Friday, February 18, 2011

Tiger Boys Finish 7-1 at Home with 62-55 Win

Worth County's boys beat an athletic Ridgeway squad to finish with a 7-1 record at home. Playing in their last home game were Alex Harmening, Wyatt McClain, and Brian Hall. The Tigers fell behind in the first quarter, rallied to lead at halftime, and then led the whole way in order to beat the Owls.

The game was tied three times, at 2, 4, and 6 before Jason Fitzpatrick scored on a fast break to put Ridgeway up 9-6 after the three-point play with 4:03 left. Worth County lobbed it twice into Jordan Harding to put them back up 10-9, but then Matthew Craig hit a pair of free throws and then Coy Rinehart took over for Ridgeway, getting a putback and then scoring off a steal; Craig scored from the right side to make it 17-10 before Todd Harding finally got a free throw off a drive with 4.4 seconds left to make it 17-11.

Worth County went to their full court press, but nothing worked at first as Rinehart, who did all he could to try and get Ridgeway the win, hit a 30-footer to make it 20-13 and stretch the lead back to 7. But then the press started working as Eli Mullock went down the right side and turned it into two free throws. Brian Hall scored from inside and then Todd Harding went down the left side of the lane and then added a steal off the press. Alex Harmening then added another steal in the left corner and went coast to coast to put Worth County up to stay at 25-22.

Joe Longo cut it to one twice on drives, but then Bryce Ross scored off an Alex Harmening steal and Todd Harding got a steal and got it to Alex Harmening off the press to make it 31-26 with 1:02 left. Rinehart struck again for Ridgeway and then Worth County turned it over to set up free throws by Fitzpatrick with 12 seconds left, and then proceeded to turn it over again, giving Ridgeway a chance to take the lead before halftime. But then Alex Harmening got a steal off the press and got it to Todd Harding, who scored with 4 seconds left to give Worth County the momentum back and put them up 33-30 at the break.

The lead stayed between three and five for much of the fourth quarter. Alex Harmening scored off an Eli Mullock steal, Brian Hall scored off a fast break, and Todd Harding drove down the baseline twice for Worth County while Rinehart was getting the ball to his teammates at will for Ridgeway and getting them open. Rinehart picked up his fourth foul and sat down and Fitzpatrick followed soon after as Worth County had a golden opportunity to go on a run to close the third. Eli Mullock drove down the right side and turned it into two free throws and Bryce Ross hit another off a steal to match Worth County's largest lead at 50-43, but then Longo hit a pullup in the high post and Skyler Service hit a 3-pointer to make it 50-48 and Ridgeway went into the fourth with all the momentum.

But Worth County tightened defensively and neither team could put any points on the board in the first three minutes of the fourth until Bryce Ross finally scored from inside to make it a four point game again. Matthew Craig got a putback with 4:02 left and Ridgeway got a stop on defense and had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Brian Hall got a steal off the press and hit putback made it a two possession game at 54-50. Joe Longo missed a runner that would have cut it to two and Todd Harding hit two free throws to make it 56-50.

Ridgeway began trapping the defensive rebounder after missed shots and Worth County threw it away and Alex Harmening's fifth foul put Rinehart on the line, but he missed a one and one. Rinehart then stripped the defensive rebounder for the layup to make it 56-52, but with 1:39 left, Eli Mullock drove right down the middle for a layup with 1:39 left to make it six again at 58-52. Longo missed another runner in the lane and Worth County got the board and ran it down to 52 seconds, keeping the possession alive twice with offensive boards after missing close shots. Finally, Bryce Ross hit two free throws with 44 seconds as Ridgeway had to foul. Mason Booth hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 34 seconds left and Ridgeway put on the press to try and get the ball back. Worth County overthrew the inbound pass, but Eli Mullock chased it down and threw it to Todd Harding for the layup to make it a three possession game again. Longo missed a contested 15-footer from the wing and Worth County was able to run out the clock for the win.

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