Ridge Loses Close Game to No. 20 Passaic, 58-51

The Ridge High Red Devils maintained the lead throughout the entire game against the Passiac Indians until, with 5:58 left on the game clock, Passaic's Tyshon Pickett hit a soft lob shot underneath to put his team ahead, 44-43.

Ridge never regained the lead and lost by 7 points, 58-51.

Pickett, who scored 13 of his team high 21 points in the second half, was named player of the game for Passaic. Ridge's player of the game was senior Christian Frisoli who finished with 18 points.

Ridge started the game strong.  Passaic ran a full-court press, but the Red Devils handled the pressure with poise.

A few minutes into the game, Senior Nick Cefalo hit a beautiful, nothing-but-net 3 pointer to put the Red Devils ahead 9-2.  Shortly after, Frisoli got fouled on a 3-point attempt and proceeded to sink all three foul shots.

But then the momentum slowly began to shift.  Passiac got some nice shots of their own and Pickett was leading the charge on both ends of the court.  Junior Jhameik Washinton hit a half-court shot at the first quarter buzzer to cut the Ridge lead to only three points, 17-14.

The second quarter consisted of mostly classic back and forth play.  Ridge returned to its man-to-man defense after a short time playing zone.  Passaic had two chances in the second quarter to tie the game or take the lead, but Ridge held them off.

The quarter ended with another dramatic buzzer shot—this time by Ridge's Dylan Kerwin.  The score at halftime was 30-27, with Ridge still ahead by three points.

The second half brought a faster-paced game which worked in Passiac's favor. Najee Salaam made a spectacular pass to Tyshon Pickett who scored and brought the Ridge lead down to one point. The 3rd quarter ended with Ridge up 41-40.

After Passaic took the lead with just under six minutes left to play, they never looked back.  Ridge continued to play tough basketball, but their shots weren't falling and, ultimately, they couldn't withstand Passaic's defensive play.

Ridge head coach Mark Taylor said, "Our kids played extremely well all the way through.  Passiac pressed the whole game and it wore us down a little.  We made some critical turnovers in the 4th quarter."

He continued, "I love my team—they are great athletes. We will execute better as the year goes on.  Winning and losing aren't the only things—there's learning."

Ridge is now 7-3, their next game is at North Huntington on Tuesday.