Boys basketball: Rams shut down Patriots

By DAVID MURPHY, Times Staff Writer
Published January 4, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - There is no bracket, no championship game, no stakes other than a notch or two in win column.

But after an opening day full of blowouts at the 19th annual William G. Fulton Ram Classic, Ridgewood coach and event organizer Gary Anders said the mere opportunity to play games was the true reward.

"I really believe that right now, coaches just want a couple games," Anders said of the two-day event.

The first day of competition featured five games, all of which were decided by double digits. Gaither topped Sunlake 63-38, Newsome beat Miami Archbishop Carroll 62-23, Oldsmar Christian beat Wiregrass Ranch 80-53 and Zephyrhills beat Central 66-55.

But it was Ridgewood's 75-37 win over Freedom that was most impressive. Playing its sixth game in the past nine days, the Rams held the Patriots to just 10 second-half points and exploded with an 11-0 run at the start of the third quarter to build a commanding 52-27 lead.

Unlike Newsome's blowout of Archbishop Carroll earlier in the day, Ridgewood manhandled a formidable opponent that had entered the classic with an 8-5 record. At first, the Patriots seemed capable of matching the Rams, with junior point guard Brendon Bertorello squaring off against Ridgewood star Mike Lawrence and 6-foot-4 forward Rasha Evans facing 6-foot-8 Rams forward Lukas Poderis.

After falling behind 23-11 at the end of the first quarter, Freedom went on a 9-1 run to cut its deficit to four points. But after Bertorello scored with 4:30 remaining in the first half to cut the Rams' lead to 26-22, Ridgewood exploded. Alvin Satram's layup sparked a 15-5 run to end the second quarter as Ridgewood took a 41-27 lead into halftime.

Led by Satram's outside shooting and the solid interior play of Poderis and forward Bryan Jones, Ridgewood outscored Freedom 18-3 in the third quarter.

Satram led all scorers with 22 points, including three 3-pointers. Jones finished with 15, while Lawrence and Poderis both chipped in 12.

"We're still not as a good as we need to be," Satram said, "but we'll get there."

The event is a change of pace for the Rams, who are coming off a murderous stretch of games that featured its first four losses of the season - to Clearwater, Princeton Christian, Princeton and American Heritage.

"It was about effort last week to not get embarrassed," Anders said.

Perhaps the most interesting game of the night featured Central and Zephyrhills.

The Bulldogs held a big lead for much of the night, but Central rallied to make it interesting, outscoring Zephyrhills 24-14 in the fourth quarter.

Central guard Darryn Frazier finished with 32 points, but the Bears were ultimately done in by turnovers and a porous defense.

Today's action features five more games: Newsome vs. Hernando, Sunlake vs. Freedom, IMG vs. Oldsmar Christian, Ridgewood vs. Archbishop Carroll, and Wiregrass vs. Gaither.

[Last modified January 3, 2008, 23:06:17]