Ridge Basketball Does Enough, Advances in State Playoffs

It was an unusual night for the Ridge boys' basketball team.

A fire alarm went off midway through the first quarter and delayed the game for 15 minutes.

There was also a 21-point third quarter lead that was whittled down to single digits, causing some anguish for the Red Devils.

But when it comes to basketball in March, the mantra is universal and simple: Win and move on.

That's exactly what the Ridge Devils did Tuesday night in its 64-58 home court victory over a thorn-in-the tale Franklin team in the first round of the North 2, Group 4 state playoffs. The No. 4 seeded Red Devils (22-5) move on to Thursday's sectional quarterfinals action where they will play host to No. 5 Bayonne. Bayonne advanced with a 61-59 victory over Westfield.

"It's about surviving," said Ridge coach Mark Taylor. "Bottom line is to advance; that's we talked about in the locker room before the game. Do whatever it takes to advance and we advanced tonight."

Ridge led by 19 points entering the fourth quarter but scored only eight points in the final stanza and withheld a furious comeback attempt by Franklin, which was led by sophomore Carlton Agudosi. After his lay-up and-one was complete with a little over three minutes left, the Red Devils lead was down to eight.

But fortunately for Ridge, they know how to close out games. After a pair of Tom Gambino free throws and an Andre Madlinger lay-in, it was time to think about Bayonne. Madlinger led the team with 25 points and collected nine rebounds.

"Coming off the county [title] and we can't underestimate Franklin," said Madlinger. "In the fourth quarter, we decided to slow it down a little bit and became kind of complacent but we had a run going."

The run Madlinger eluded to began ominously with the fire alarm that went off with 3:10 left in the first quarter and Ridge leading 12-8. Play was suspended for nearly 15 minutes. 

Prior to the fire alarm, Madlinger scored the team's last seven points. And when play resumed, Franklin's defense couldn't thaw Madlinger's shooting. He scored five of the team's next seven points to help erase any potential lingering effects from the delay.

Further damaging for Franklin was a 12-0 second-quarter run helped Ridge extend its lead to 14 by halftime (Red Devils led 39-25).

Madlinger, who scored 15 in the first half, scored on a couple of impressive tip-ins but it was his 3-point shooting – he drained five 3-pointers in the game – that struck a chord with the near-to-capacity crowd. On one of his makes in the second quarter, Madlinger took a pass from senior Nick Cefalo and in one motion, took a step back to avoid congestion caused by two Franklin defenders, and subsequently swished in a shot from near the sidelines on the right side of the court.

"Right on the board [in the locker room], Coach [Taylor] states 'you have to have fun and have to shoot,'" said Madlinger. "We had to come out, have fun and just unload and keep shooting."

The good vibes and shots continued in the third quarter. When popular role player senior Ryan Gerrity drained a 3-pointer from the left corner upon encouragement from Cefalo, the Red Devils led 56-37 entering the fourth quarter.

"I had an open shot the first time and then I passed it out to Nick," said Gerrity with a smile. "And then Nick passed it back and told me, 'just shoot it!' and I said, 'alright, why not, I'm open.'"

Despite the turbulence in the fourth, the bottom line was earned: Ridge is playing Thursday. And in this month where wins take on an obvious connotation, nothing else matters.