Saturday, December 13, 2014

Game Recap: Golden Rams Earn Hard-Fought Road Win

The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men's Basketball team earned a hard-fought 86-79 road victory at Vermilion Community College on Friday evening.

This was the first true road win of the season for the Golden Rams as they evened their overall record to 4-4 on the season.

A back-and-forth first half saw both teams exchange the lead eight times as neither team was able to gain control early on.

Anoka-Ramsey lead 11-6 five minutes into the game before the Ironmen went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-11 lead.
After trading baskets, Vermilion would open a five point lead at 21-16.

The Golden Rams used a 8-2 run to regain the lead and extended it to six points, 34-28 with 4:51 left in the half.

The Ironmen would once again use a 7-0 run to take a 35-34 lead with three minutes to play, but Anoka-Ramsey would finish the half strong and take a 40-37 lead into the break.

After an opening basket from Vermilion, the Golden Rams would extend their lead to seven points at 51-44 just three and half minutes into the second half.

From that point forward the Golden Ram lead would never drop below six points.

A three-pointer by Trenton Pollard (sophomore, Prairie Seeds Academy) off an assist from Justin Casey (sophomore, Park Center) would extend the lead to 11, 62-51 with 12:47 to play.

Vermilion would keep hanging around, trimming the deficit back to six on four occasions over the next seven minutes before a decisive 10-4 run pushed the lead to 12 with two minutes to play.

Anoka-Ramsey was led by Pollard with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting including 4-of-6 from the three-point line.

Kashif Hayes (freshman, St. Louis Park) scored 16 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-6 from the three-point line.

Brandon Hixson (freshman, Champlin Park) scored 14 points and pulled in a game-high eight rebounds.

Casey and Chris Byrgiotis (sophomore, Melbourne, Australia) chipped in seven points, and Jerry Butler (sophomore, Hill-Murray) knocked down two three-point field goals for six points.

The Golden Rams shot 51.8 percent for the game including 58.3 percent in the second half, and 9-of-21 overall from the three-point line.

Free throws were the difference as Anoka-Ramsey made 19 compared to just nine for Vermilion.

The Golden Rams will face Mesabi Range on Saturday at 3pm in Virginia, MN. 

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