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Rams edge Wildcats on tipin

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The final eight minutes were like a brutal chess match. Ridgewood and Wesley Chapel exchanged the lead six times and tied six times in a wild and well-played fourth quarter. Every possession was challenged, and every second counted.

But the end came down not to a well-choreographed play from the bench, but to desire and talent.

Rams center Andrew Reed didn't want the game to go into overtime, and at 6 feet 5, with a 25-inch vertical leap, he had the power to make sure it didn't.

Reed's right-handed tipin at the buzzer gave Ridgewood a 59-57 Sunshine Athletic Conference win Friday night.

There was a scrum underneath the basket for the ball in the final 6.5 seconds after Nate Bradley's missed jumper. But Reed's eyes never left the ball as it bounced in midair, and he leaped over nine pairs of outstretched hands to sink the game-winner on his third attempted tipin.

"I was thinking I didn't want it to go into overtime, so I tried to do everything I could to get it back in," Reed said. "It was like time just stopped."

Also stopped, at least for now, is Wesley Chapel's march to the SAC championship. Ridgewood's (19-5, 11-2 in the SAC) win forces a three-way tie between Wesley Chapel (17-6, 11-2 in the SAC) and Gulf (19-3, 12-2). The Wildcats host the Rams in a Feb. 8 rematch at their place.

"The referee said to me (afterward) that was a very good game," Ridgewood coach Gary Anders said. "I would have to think that is the hardest played ballgame from beginning to end and that was the toughest last quarter we've been in."

Added Wesley Chapel coach Kent Mills: "Every possession was critical. It was probably the most intense eight minutes of the year, and we didn't handle that last four very well."

That's because the Wildcats blew a chance at a five-point lead with four minutes left with a turnover and then saw their three-point lead disappear.

Wesley Chapel jumped out to a 21-12 lead but was down 33-32 at the half. It was neck-and-neck from there as the teams chased each other to the finish line. The key was the Rams' ability to beat the Wildcats' swarming trap in the fourth quarter. "We just toughed it out," Anders said.

Wesley Chapel's Eric Sorensen led all scorers with 27 points, scoring 25 in the first half and dropping four 3-pointers. Mike Argerenon led Ridgewood with 15 points, nine in the second half.

Reed finished with 12, but his last two buckets, three blocks and school-record 21 rebounds are what proved to be the difference.

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