RAMS ON THE REBOUND
By Matt Maher
MINERAL RIDGE, OH – The Rams were on a mission, a mission to beat a team called McKinley and that’s exactly what they did in their 61-52 victory over Niles. After a disappointing loss to Sebring (also known as McKinley) on Friday night, the Rams were hungry for a win and beating Niles, while not directly or personally, was a nice bit of payback to our 25th Presidents last name.
The first quarter was close and high energy with Niles narrowly winning it 11-10. After about 2 minutes of scoreless action, Nile struck first but Ridge stayed right behind them the whole time. Chase Moore was, well, Chase Moore and led his team with 6 points including 2 from under the hoop and 2-of-2 from the line. Jack Geddes also found a beautiful 3 to help out his team. Niles saw a more rounded out team effort with Avon Fryer, Anthony Budak and True Carey-Hardin all scoring 3 and Stef Dorsey adding 2.
Niles picked up the torch and scored 15 points to the Rams 10 in the second. For the Rams, Chase Moore continued to impress with another rebounded 2 and 2-of-4 from the line. Niles saw Anthony Georgalas hit a 3 off the bench, Hardin-Carey found 4 points in the paint and Dorsey and Yausene Blackmon both scored 2 points. The real headline came from Avon Fryer who took the ball from an inbound with 2 seconds on the clock and put up a why not type of shot from half court and buried it for a career highlight!
Niles kept up the pressure going up by 10 points early in the 3rd but the Rams saw that and came back and erased that lead with relative ease and came out with an impressive 22 point quarter. Niles saw Carey-Hardin score 6 points, hitting two 3’s while Fryer came back with another 3 (this time from much closer in). The Rams saw Moore, Geddes and Kaden Shaffer all put up 4 points while Blake Basista and Landon Bingham both found some nice scores from beyond the arc.
The Rams continued to play with authority and came out with a 19-13 point 4th that would propel them over Niles. The Red Dragons saw Budak score 5 points including an and-1 while Dorsey found 6 more points with two 3’s. Ridge saw Chase Moore continue his dominance with 11 more points allowing him to finish with 25 points. Basista continued to add to the score sheet with 4 more points including making 2-of-2 free throw attempts.
Hard work and concentration helped the Rams soar over the Red Dragons on Saturday night and gave them that much needed win to help them in their hunt for a playoff spot. Niles (4-11) are back home on January 23rd when they host Poland in another big NE8 matchup at 7:00PM, Mineral Ridge (5-9) will stay at home on January 23rd when they host McDonald for another pivotal MVAC matchup at 7:00PM.
