Madlinger Scores His 1000th Point on Senior Night, Red Devils Win

On what turned out to be a landmark night for Ridge basketball, the Red Devils trounced the North Hunterdon Lions on senior night and the last home game of the regular season, 60-49, but the focus for many in the crowd and on the bench was not the score on the board but instead the amount of points Andrew Madlinger was scoring.

He needed 26 points in the game to reach the 1000 in his career, a dream that many high school players have but that few realize. With a few minutes left in the game, and with Ridge holding a comfortable lead, the Red Devils began to feed Madlinger the ball and allowing him to take shot after shot.

"Our main goal tonight was getting Andrew his points," said Christian Frisoli.

He scored a bunch of two-pointers in a flurry, sometimes looking sloppy or falling as he took them, but making enough to get him to 997 career points with less than a minute left in the game.

Ridge held the ball again, the team passing it around to get it to Madlinger, who received the ball a few feet outside of the three point line with a North Hunterdon player bearing down on him. He took the shot, off-balance, a fade-away that left him on the ground, and the ball soared in with 36.6 seconds remaining in the final home game of the regular season, Madlinger's 1000th point.

"I'm happy I did it on senior night," said Madlinger. "I needed 26 and I got 26."

The game stopped as his achievement was celebrated and announced for the cheering crowd. "He is one of the best, if not the best shooter I have ever coached," said Ridge's head coach Mark Taylor.

Madlinger was on pace to reach the milestone earlier this season, but after suffering an injury that kept him out for 5 weeks, he had some ground to make up as the season and his high school basketball career began to come to an end.

"In the beginning I didn't know how many games I would miss," said Madlinger. "I had to get surgery, and I was supposed to be out for six weeks, but with therapy I came back in five."

After the game, the team gathered on the court with family, friends and fans. "Tonight is a celebration of all of our careers," said Frisoli. "We are the winning-est class in Ridge history."

The Red Devils will play their biggest game of the season on Saturday, the finals of the Somerset County Tournament, where they will be facing Gill St. Bernard's. "It's all for a good momentum going into Saturday," said Frisoli.

The Ridge Red Devils, now 20-5 this season, are having one of the best seasons they have ever had, although the team has been experiencing success for the past few years. "I said to Andrew at the beginning of the night, he is one of the reasons we changed the aura of Ridge basketball," said Taylor.

On Saturday, 3 p.m. at Franklin High School, the Red Devils will have a chance to capture a county championship.