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Schools

Ridge Wins Thriller Over Colonia, 52-49

The team will advance to the semi-finals of the Len Sepanak Tournament.

For the second week running, Ridge was led by a double-double, this time by Conor Skea, who paired with Nick Cefalo to lead the Ridge Red Devils to victory over the Colonia Patriots.

Skea had 16 points and 10 rebounds in a fast-paced victory with monster efforts from Cefalo (12 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists) and Tom Gambino (9 points, 6 rebounds).

Christian Frisoli and Rob McCarthy had quiet nights on offense, with 7 points and 5 points respectively, but were valuable assets on defense.

Both teams went hard on offense right from the tip off, with Matt Wagner, who finished with 11 points for Colonia, hounding the Ridge offense. Cefalo and Skea combined effectively almost immediately for the Red Devils as Ridge put up 16 points to Colonia's 15.

Colonia took the second quarter, even with Skea hitting both shots and boards hard for Ridge. Unfortunately, Skea was just about the only one making shots for Ridge as the Devils dropped not only jumpers but free throws as well.

Frisoli was held surprisingly quiet, frustrated from beyond the arc. He missed three in a row in the second quarter, but he picked up in the second half, scoring 7 points.

Head coach Mark Taylor must have said the right thing again at half-time as the Red Devils came back from a half-time deficit to win for the second time in as many games.

Cefalo and Skea continued to work hard on offense, with Skea collecting four of Cefalo's 10 assists. Cefalo attacked the Patriot's basket, collecting 8 foul shots; unfortunately he was only able to connect with four of them.

The Red Devils outscored the Patriots by 5 in the third, going into the fourth with a 45–42 lead, which they held to the end of the game, winning 52–49.

Scoring a team season high in points with this victory, Ridge will have to work on their foul shot shooting before Monday's clash with Irvington: they went 9 for 20 from the line.

Taylor has confidence in his team's ability, "I don't worry about missing shots, you're going to get hot, shooters will shoot" he said before Monday's mêlée "the key is to keep them (Irvington) to one shot. If we keep them to one-shot possessions, we're going to win the game."

The game begins at 7:30 p.m. on Monday as the Len Sepanek tournament continues.

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