Ridgeland knocks off Lanier in final seconds
The Ridgeland boys basketball team found a way to win and continued their strong start in a 62-60 victory over Jackson powerhouse Lanier on Tuesday night, thanks in part to a game-winning layup by senior Phil Nelson and a balanced scoring effort.
It was a back and forth battle from start to finish in this one between two of the state’s best programs so far this season.
Lanier jumped out to an 18-16 lead at the end of the first quarter, before Ridgeland answered with a small run of their own to take a 33-31 lead into the break, with junior Marquis Williams leading the way on that run with ten first half points.
The physicality picked up in the second half and it was truly a battle going into the final minutes of this one. With the score tied at 60 in the last seconds, Ridgeland put the ball in the hands of their top scorer and one of their senior leaders, as Phil Nelson attacked the basket, while staying composed, and finished a layup in traffic to secure the win for the Titans.
“That’s what we teach, to go all-out with effort, all the time,” Ridgeland Head Coach Terron McIntyre said. “We had to do that tonight, because it was a battle. We had to amp the pressure and try to turn the ball over.”
Nelson led the way in the scoring column for Ridgeland with 18 points, but it was a balanced scoring effort for the Titans. Williams ended up with 13 points and junior Khameron Snow was also in double-digits with 10 points on the night.
Coach McIntyre has plenty of weapons at his disposal and Ridgeland is a team that can have any player lead the way on any given night.
“If you want to try and take one person away, then somebody else is going to get going,” McIntyre said. “We move the ball really well and we have a lot of guys that can score, so we try to find who has it going that night and keep feeding them.”
Following last season’s heartbreaking three-point loss in the state title game, Ridgeland is trying to get over the hump and back to the top of the mountain this year.
As the Titans near the start of region play, they have played no shortage of top teams in the state to get them ready for region play and another deep state tournament run, and have been successful doing so.
“We play a tough schedule because the teams we will play in our region and in the postseason will be tough,” McIntyre said. “If you want to be successful in the postseason, then every night has to be a test and you have to keep building off of those tests.”
Ridgeland moves to 13-2 on the season with the win and their next games will come this weekend, as they will host Callaway on Friday and will take on Madison Central on Saturday in the Bassa Holiday Invitational at Mississippi College.