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Rams hold on, remain undefeated

LAND O'LAKES -- Ridgewood coach Gary Anders had to get nervous Thursday when Land O'Lakes shaved a nine-point lead to four with 17 seconds to play.

Ridgewood's players were well aware that its school hadn't beaten the Gators in at least the past five meetings. However, this Rams team didn't blink, holding off the late rally for a 63-57 win.

Ridgewood improved to 7-0 including a 4-0 mark in Class 4A, District 8.

"I think I was nervous when the game started out because I didn't think that we came out with a lot of intensity tonight," Anders said. "That scares me bad when you play these guys. I knew, regardless of their record, how hard they would play."

Land O'Lakes (2-5, 1-2) ignited the crowd by scorching Ridgewood for 23 first-quarter points, including 15 from Logan Payne on 6 of 7 shooting.

Ridgewood managed to hang with the hot Gators despite trailing 23-18 after the first quarter. The Rams whittled that deficit to 34-33 by halftime.

The Rams took control of the game in the third quarter, going on a 10-0 run and holding Land O'Lakes scoreless for the first 4 minutes of the quarter.

"In the third quarter, they got on us a little bit and we kind of got in a hurry," Land O'Lakes coach Dave Puhalski said. "We made some offensive mistakes and that led to some easy baskets for them."

Ridgewood opened up a 50-42 lead after three quarters thanks to a 17-8 run.

Land O'Lakes trailed 61-52 with 36 seconds to play until J.W. Bryant drained a 3-pointer. Ridgewood's Matt Mirabella tossed the subsequent inbounds pass over Andrew Reed's head.

Jon Wolaver then scored inside on a nice pass from Payne to cut the lead to 61-57 with 17 seconds to play.

Ridgewood held on thanks to its work at the free-throw line. The Rams shot 11 of 17 in the fourth quarter and 15 of 22 overall. Meanwhile, Land O'Lakes shot 4 of 10 from the line in the final quarter and 9 of 19 overall.

Payne finished with a game-high 18 points although he shot 1-for-10 after the first quarter. Drew Weatherford added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for the Gators.

Ridgewood's Chris Halkitis scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Mike Argerenon added 14 points and three assists.

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