Game Recap: Golden Rams Move to 3-1 with Win over NIACC

The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men’s Basketball team moved their record to 3-1 with a 86-80 victory over North Iowa Area Community College on Monday night.  The Golden Rams also defeated NIACC 87-84 back on November 12th .

The first half started well for the Golden Rams as they opened an early lead, but missed opportunities inside, missed free throws, and a lack of transition defense allowed NIACC to take a 36-32 lead into the break.

Anoka-Ramsey shot a dismal 28.6 percent (12-42) in the first half with many of those misses coming around the basket.  They also made only 4 of 10 free throws.

The game remained competitive in the first half thanks to Anoka-Ramsey holding NIACC to only 37.1 percent shooting (13-35) including just 1 of 7 from the three-point line.  In their first matchup on November 12, NIACC made seven threes in the first half.

With a renewed energy, the Golden Rams put on an early run to start the second half, culminating in a vicious dunk by 6’1” guard David Hicks (see previous blog post).  

Thanks to finishing their shots inside, the Golden Rams opened up a 13 point lead at one point, but the half was marred by fouls that allowed NIACC to stay in the game from the free throw line.  NIACC finished the night shooting 25 of 40 on free throws compared to 16 of 29 for Anoka-Ramsey.

Ultimately, the Golden Rams were able to hold on and come away with the victory.

Anoka-Ramsey shot 55.3 percent in the second half (21-38) to finish 33 of 80 (41.3 percent).  The Golden Rams also held a 59-46 edge in rebounds including 21 on the offensive end.

NIACC shot just 35.6 percent for the game (26-73) and only 3 of 18 from the three-point line.

Hicks led the Golden Rams with 18 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists. 

Corey Barrett recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds as well as four blocks. 

J.J. Butler came off the bench to provide 17 points and eight rebounds including 2-3 shooting from the three-point line.

Chris Harmon added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Antone Darrington recorded a game-high seven assists.

The Golden Rams will be in action next on Friday, December 2^nd when they host Hibbing Community College at 8:00pm, then play host to Rainy River Community College on Saturday, December 3^rd at 3:00pm.

David Hicks dunk vs. NIACC

Anoka-Ramsey's 6'1" Guard David Hicks with a fast break dunk vs. NIACC.

Game Recap: Golden Rams Split Weekend Games

The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men’s Basketball split their first two games of the season this past weekend, losing 76-63 to Ellsworth Community College, and defeating NIACC 87-84.

Ellsworth Game

In their first game action of the season, the Golden Rams got off to a fast start, taking a ten point lead early in the first half behind the shooting of Lemuel Doe and Antone Darrington, who each knocked down 3's in the first few minutes of the game.

Ellsworth countered with a run midway through the half and Anoka-Ramsey went into the break with a 38-32 lead.  Doe led all scorers with 15 points in the half, hitting 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.

A slow start to the second half allowed Ellsworth to take the lead for good as Anoka-Ramsey couldn’t get the offense going.  Anoka-Ramsey scored only three points in the first eight minutes of the second half and finished the half shooting only 9 of 23 (39 percent).

The deficit grew to as much as 16 before a late Golden Ram run cut it down to ten with just over a minute left.  But Ellsworth was able to hold on for the win.

Free throw shooting and turnovers proved to be the biggest difference in the game as Anoka-Ramsey shot just 9 of 24 from the line and turned it over 26 times.

Doe led the Golden Rams with 17 points and eight rebounds.  Darrington (12 points) and David Hicks (10 points) rounded out the double-figure scorers.  Henry Breedlove finished the game with ten rebounds.

NIACC Game

Determined to leave Mason City with one victory, the Golden Rams did just that by holding off NIACC 87-84 on Saturday night. 

Much like the previous game, this was a tale of two halves; except it worked in the Golden Rams favor this time.  The hot shooting NIACC Trojans were 7 of 11 from the three point line in the first half and led 47-42 at the break.

In the second half, NIACC continued their hot perimeter shooting, finishing the game 11 of 21 from the three point line, however Anoka-Ramsey was able to hold them to just 39.5 percent overall from the field thanks to nine blocked shots.  NIACC also only made 13 of their 26 free throw attempts.

Anoka-Ramsey was able to shoot 50 percent from the field in the second half and made just enough free throws (9 of 16 in the second half) to hold off a late NIACC rally.

Anoka-Ramsey finished the game shooting 42.9 percent including 9 of 25 from the three point line.  They also recorded a season-high 18 assists and outrebounded NIACC 53-44.

Lemuel Doe led the Golden Rams with 27 points on 8 of 17 shooting and 6 of 10 from the three point line.  Doe also had five assists and four rebounds.  Antone Darrington recorded seven assists and only one turnover.  David Hicks and Chris Harmon had 13 points apiece with Harmon pulling in nine rebounds. 

Corey Barrett and J.J. Butler led the Golden Rams in rebounds with 13 and 12 respectively.

Lucas Barraud came off the bench to provide eight points.

Up Next

Anoka-Ramsey takes their 1-1 record on the road again this weekend, traveling to La Crosse, WI to take on Western Technical College on Saturday, November 19^th at 3:00pm. 

Their first home game will be a rematch with NIACC on Monday, November 21^st at 8:00pm.

2011 Coaches Clinic - FREE

On Wednesday, November 16th the Anoka-Ramsey Men's Basketball Team and Coaching Staff will be hosting a FREE Coaches Clinic from 6:15pm - 9:00pm

All coaches, from high school to youth levels, boys and girls, are welcome to attend the clinic as the Golden Ram coaches take you through a series of drills and offensive/defensive concepts that led to a 22-8 record and a NJCAA Region XIII Runner-Up finish in 2011.

Schedule of Events:

6:15pm - Registration and Welcome
6:30pm - Warm-up, ball-handling and fast break drills
6:45pm - Secondary break transition
7:00pm - Offensive concepts
7:15pm - Offensive breakdown drills - attack
7:30pm - Shooting drills
7:45pm - Break and discussion
7:55pm - Defensive concepts
8:10pm - Defensive transition
8:30pm - Defensive drills
8:45pm - Discussion and question/answer session

For more information please contact Ron Larson at 612-221-4667 or Ron.Larson@anokaramsey.edu

"We Are, A-R!" Crown College Recap

**This will be the last “We Are, A-R!” update for awhile.  From now on we’ll mostly have game recaps, and the occasional update on things outside of in-game action.  Thanks for following along!**

We had our final tune-up last Friday with a scrimmage against Crown College.  Just like the last scrimmage, we technically won however there were plenty of areas where improvement is still needed.

As we’ve said before, we have a very talent, yet very inexperienced group.  Antone Darrington is our only player to have played college basketball (Max Wessel is currently injured), and that really showed in our scrimmages.  Many of the shots that we typically make in practice haven’t fallen in the two scrimmages.  It will take time for everyone to get comfortable playing against other competition and get the game reps needed to start knocking down shots.

We have plenty of good shooters, that has been evident in practice, but when a defender is flying at you to contest, and there is a little more on the line, it makes a big difference in our ability to make shots.  We’re confident that shots will start to fall; it’s just a matter of continuing to take the right shots and shooting them with confidence.

Some positive things from the Crown scrimmage:

1)      We did a good job pressuring the basketball and contesting shots.

2)      We were 31-38 from the free throw line.  A big change from the 17-33 performance against North Central.

3)      Our posts continue to be pests on the offensive glass.  We’ll need that continued effort until we get into a groove shooting the ball.

Next up is our first regular season game.  We travel to Mason City, IA to play in the Konigsmark Klassic on the campus of North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC).  On Friday, November 11^th we’ll play Ellsworth Community College at 4:00pm, then face host NIACC at 6:00pm on Saturday, November 12^th.

Thanks for your continued support of Golden Ram Basketball!

Say it with me...

“We Are, A-R!”

"We Are, A-R!" North Central Scrimmage Recap

On Tuesday, the Golden Rams traveled to North Central University in downtown Minneapolis for a scrimmage against…the Rams of North Central University.

After the scrimmage we took stats off the film, and while technically you could say we won the scrimmage, it certainly didn’t feel like it.

We didn’t play our best, but to be honest, that shouldn’t have been unexpected.  We have an inexperienced group with many guys who either haven’t played organized basketball, or haven’t played in a number of years.  So we have a steep learning curve, and that’s okay.  Even if we were an experienced team we shouldn’t be playing our best basketball right now.

The team left the gym disappointed in a lot of areas.  Our offensive execution left much to be desired, and we missed a lot of little things defensively (finding our man in transition, communicating on screens, being in the right help position, etc.).

So while we won the scrimmage, our guys were able to recognize that it wasn’t a success.

In yesterday’s practice we talked about the things we need to work on and the guys were very receptive to working hard and getting better at those things.  All you need to do is look at some of the exhibition game scores from the last week to know we’re not the only ones with things to work on.  Northern State defeats Butler, Minnesota State Moorhead defeats North Dakota State, Seattle Pacific defeats Arizona, and Bemidji State gives Minnesota a run for their money are just a few examples.

The good news is our effort was there the whole night.  That much we can’t question.  And as long as we keep bringing effort, and a mentality that we need to listen and learn, then good things will happen for us.

Next up, we have Crown College coming to our place tomorrow (Friday) for another scrimmage.  Hopefully we can carry over what we learned and take steps in the right direction.

Oh, and Henry Breedlove brought the house down with a dunk at the beginning of the third period.  Needless to say, the night ended then.  See pictures below.

Say it with me...

“We Are, A-R!”