Schools
Red Devils Beat Out Voorhees, 61-32
The boys of the Ridge basketball team pulled ahead early on, and didn't let up.
The Ridge High School boys basketball team easily grabbed the home victory over Voorhees High School on Tuesday night, 61-32. A tough defense translated into an aggressive offense for the Red Devils, with each member contributing points. The Ridge boys blew past the Vikings to win every quarter, keeping their offense to a minimum.
Head coach for the Red Devils, Mark Taylor, acknowledges that when you pass well and play as a team, the overall turn-out is better.
"It's great when you share the ball. The more guys to get on the scoreboard the better," said Taylor.
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Christian Frisoli and Andrew Madlinger led the Red Devils (14-3) by each netting fifteen points. Conor Skea chipped in with seven, while Nick Cefalo helped with six.
Kyle Ferraioli led the Vikings (5-10) with eleven points. Danny Schaefer had eight, while Mike Bonavita added four.
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The first half brought twenty-six points in for the Red Devils, while allowing the Vikings sixteen. The second quarter finished with Ridge commanding a 10-point half-time advantage.
The second half opened with a basket from each team and a free throw from Voorhees.
Three and a half minutes into the third quarter, John Legband snatched a defensive rebound and headed down court to pass off to Nick Cefalo, who easily converted a layup. The Vikings' only response was a foul, resulting in a pair of Devil free throws. Ten seconds later, Frisoli extended Ridge's lead by another three with a field goal.
"We played pretty well, we played as a team well, played good defense. Good defense translates to good offense," said Frisoli. "So we're happy about that."
After a 7-point surge from the Vikings a couple minutes later, Tom Gambino responded with a basket for the Devils at thirty seconds remaining. Several free throw points and a Frisoli steal later, the third period closed at 42-26.
"We definitely played better offensively, we missed a lot of shots though. I think we were 8 for 27. From the 3-point line, we only shot about 50 percent from there," added Frisoli. "But we played pretty well, we got good transition towards the end of the game."
The fourth quarter immediately brought more free throws for each team, rounding out the scoring just a bit. With 4:00 minutes ticking on the clock, Rob McCarthy sent a nice pass to Madlinger, enabling him to sink two more points. Thirty seconds later brought another assist, this time from Madlinger to Frisoli, who scored. JB Kole added another two for the Red Devils before giving the Vikings a chance to react with a field goal from Ryan Hawke, making it 58-32.
Didn't matter much to Ridge though, who cut off the Vikings offense from there on out. They quickly reciprocated with a 3-pointer of their own, thanks to Kyle Stanzel. At :28 seconds left, Skea sank the ball off a backwards layup, for the final score of the night, with a final score of 61-32.
The Red Devils face North Hunterdon next, on Friday, Feb. 5.