Rangers hold on to beat St. Marys

ST. MARYS - New Knoxville kept St. Marys at arms' length all night, and held on down the stretch for a 51-46 victory over the Roughriders Friday night at Murotech Court.

The Rangers scored the first seven points of the game. They never led by more than seven but also never trailed as the Riders were unable to muster a sustained offensive attack.

"Overall this was a good team win," New Knoxville  coach Josh Lisi said. "Defensively, we played well. Offensively, we kept our composure and did what we needed to do to get some points and maintain the lead."

Trailing 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, the Riders outscored New Knoxville 9-3 to open the second quarter, tying the game at 17.

However, St. Marys went the final five minutes of the half without a field goal, and the Rangers closed with a three-pointer by Ben Lammers for a 22-18 lead at the break.

"I thought we came out a little bit sluggish and flat in that first half," St. Marys coach Craig Szymczak said. "We were able to keep it close, but they hit a three at the end of the half and that was big."

New Knoxville's leading scorer on the season, Nick Topp, picked up his third foul in the final minute of the first half, followed by his fourth foul less than 30 seconds into the second half.

Even with Topp sitting almost the entire third quarter, the Riders were unable to make a run.

Lammers and Jonah Lageman hit some big three-point shots as the Rangers were able to match St. Marys basket-for-basket in the third period and led 37-32 heading into the fourth.

"We had some guys step up with Nick out of the game.  I've been preaching for the last couple weeks that you can't depend on one person," Lisi said. "Tonight kind of proved that with guys playing their roles. Ben Lammers did an excellent job defending (Derek) Jay, plus he hit some big outside shots. Jonah (Lageman) took care of the ball really well. ... It was just a great team effort tonight."

Bo Kuenning opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back inside shots for St. Marys. A Derek Jay three-pointer pulled the Riders to within two, and Jacob Grannan tied the game at 41 with a bucket at the five-minute mark.

But once again the Rangers were up to the task, outscoring St. Marys 8-2 over the next three minutes to take a 49-43 lead with 54 seconds left.

"St. Marys tied it up and had the ball," Lisi said. "We had a good defensive set, got a score to go up two, and that really lifted our confidence down the stretch."

The Riders forced up a couple desperation three-point attempts in the closing seconds, but never threatened the Ranger lead.

"Every loss we've had this year, we haven't been able to finish around the basket," Szymczak said. "It doesn't matter what we do defensively... We had position, we got some good shots, and we didn't capitalize. You can't do that if you want to win at basketball."

Jay, who was honored before the game for scoring his career 1,000th point earlier this week, finished with a game-high 21 points to pace the Roughriders.

New Knoxville had three players in double figures led by Topp and Nathan Tinnerman with 14 each. Lageman added 10 and Lammers nine.

Both teams return to league play next Friday. New Knoxville (3-3) hosts Coldwater in a Midwest Athletic Conference battle and St. Marys (2-4) hosts Shawnee in Western Buckeye League play.