Saturday, December 10, 2011

Game Recaps: Golden Rams Run Win Streak to Seven

The Anoka-Ramsey Men's Basketball team ran their winning streak to seven with two road victories over MCAC Northern Division opponents.  On Friday night, the Golden Rams defeated Northland Community and Technical College 68-67, and on Saturday afternoon, defeated Itasca Community College 75-59.

Northland

In a game that saw seven ties and 13 lead changes, the Golden Rams fought back from a 59-50 deficit in the second half to pull out a 68-67 win over Northland.

A defensive battle from the start, neither team was able to gain a decisive edge in the first half with Northland going on an 8-0 run to end the half and take a 28-27 lead into the break despite being held to 24.2 percent shooting.  Northland had a 10-2 edge in made free throws in the half.

Anoka-Ramsey started out fast in the second half, scoring the first six points to take a 33-28 lead, but Northland answered with a 5-0 run of their own to tie the score.  From there, Northland began to pull away eventually taking their 59-50 lead before a furious comeback by the Golden Rams.

Down two with less than 30 seconds left, Chris Harmon scored and drew a foul, making the free throw, for the 68-67 lead.  Northland drew a foul with about ten seconds remaining but missed both free throws.  The rebound went out of bounds off the Golden Rams, giving Northland one last chance.

Northland had three shots in the lane, all contested, in the final ten seconds before a blocked shot and recovery by Corey Barrett with two seconds remaining sealed the victory.

J.J. Butler led the Golden Rams with 15 points and nine rebounds, including a thunderous alley-oop in the first half.

David Hicks chipped in with 13 points, Lemuel Doe finished with ten points, and Jimmy Sauser came off the bench to tally nine points on 3-5 shooting from the three-point line.

Harmon finished with eight points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

Itasca

Another overall impressive defensive effort led the Golden Rams to a 75-59 victory over Itasca.  The Golden Rams limited Itasca to just 25.8 percent shooting and 20 points in the first half to take a 33-20 lead into the break.  Anoka-Ramsey countered shooting 14 of 25 for 56 percent.

The lead grew to 19 with just under ten minutes remaining, but the Vikings wouldn't go away as a quick 8-0 run cut the deficit to just eleven with six and a half minutes left.

But the Golden Rams regrouped and pushed the lead to as high as 21 before settling on the final margin.

The Golden Rams shot a blistering 52.8 percent for the game, holding Itasca to just 30.6 percent and 7 of 23 from the three-point line.

Anoka-Ramsey also held a 44-35 edge in rebounds.

Lemuel Doe led the team with 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 5 of 6 from the free throw line.  Doe also finished with six rebounds.

J.J. Butler scored 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting and Chris Harmon scored 14 points to go along with ten rebounds for the double-double.

Henry Breedlove finished with seven points on 3 of 4 shooting and seven rebounds.  Michael Stephens also finished with seven points with four rebounds in a season-high 25 minutes of play.

Up Next

The Golden Rams improve their record to 7-1 on the season.  They'll return home for two games in the ARCC Classic before the holiday break, facing Bismarck State College on Friday, December 16th at 8:00pm, then face Vermilion Community College at 4:00pm on Saturday, December 17th.

Look for a preview of the ARCC Classic on the site early next week.

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