The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men's Basketball team split their two games in the ARCC Classic, defeating Bismarck State College 91-86 on Friday before falling to Vermilion Community College 78-73 on Saturday.
Vs. Bismarck State
Facing the NJCAA Division I Mystics, the Golden Rams put together one of their finer shooting performances of the season to pull out the victory.
Anoka-Ramsey began the game outscoring the Mystics 12-3 in the first four minutes to take the early nine point lead.
After a Bismarck State basket, Brandon Hixson and Trenton Pollard would each connect inside the arc to push the lead to ten 16-6.
The lead would grow to 13 (26-13) with 10:48 to play in the half before Bismarck State would put on a run of their own.
The Mystics outscored the Golden Rams 13-2 over a two and half minute stretch to cut the deficit to two points with 7:53 to play.
Cameron Cummings would connect on a three-point shot, followed by a Kashif Hayes steal, and layup from Jerry Butler to push the lead back to seven, 35-28.
But the Mystics put together a 9-0 run to take a 37-35 lead, their first of the game, iwth 5:18 to play in the half.
Anoka-Ramsey responded by scoring the next five points to retake the lead at 40-37 before ending the half up 50-43.
The Golden Rams shot 55.6 percent in the opening period to Bismarck's 51.6 percent. The Mystics connected on seven three-point field goals, and the Golden Rams knocked down six themselves.
The second half continued to see its share of scoring, however both teams cooled off from behind the arc.
Anoka-Ramsey built the lead to 13, 69-56, with 12:19 to play.
But once again the Mystics had an answer going on a 11-0 run to pull within 69-67.
The Golden Rams responded again to push the lead back to eleven (85-74) with four minutes to play but they couldn't put Bismarck State away.
A missed three and two turnovers by Anoka-Ramsey led to a two-point field goal and two three-point field goals from Bismarck to cut the lead to three (85-82) with 2:23 left.
A free throw from Pollard and field goal from Justin Casey gave the Golden Rams a six point cushion, followed by two Mystic free throws to cut it back to four.
Hayes would make one of two from the line, followed by another Mystic field goal to cut the lead to three with 18 seconds left.
Pollard would connect on two more free throws for the final 91-86 margin.
The Golden Rams shot 54.5 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers.
The Mystics shot 51.6 percent, but only connected on three three-point shots in the second half.
Vs. Vermilion
In the final game of the ARCC Classic, the Golden Rams faced Vermilion, a rematch of the previous weekend's game which the Anoka-Ramsey won 86-79 in Ely.
The opening minutes featured a back-and-forth game as neither team could take control early.
The Ironmen would use an extended 16-3 run to take a ten point lead (20-10) with 12:10 to play in the half.
Over the next five minutes, the Golden Rams would chip away eventually using a 11-2 run to tie the score at 27 with 7:15 left in the half. During that run, Kashif Hayes would knock down three consecutive three-point field goals to keep Anoka-Ramsey alive.
Another Hayes three at the 4:13 mark would give the Golden Rams a 30-29 lead and they would go into the break up 41-39.
Hayes scored 19 points in the half on five three-point field goals and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Anoka-Ramsey opened an eight point lead 52-44 early in the second half and would still lead by eight 65-57 with 11:31 to play before things began falling apart.
Vermilion scored seven straight points, and 15 of the next 17 total points to take a 72-67 lead with 5:08 to play.
Anoka-Ramsey would respond to tie the score at 72 with 2:38 to play, and forced a shot clock violation on the next Vermilion possession to give themselves a chance at the lead.
However, a costly turnover followed by two free throws from Vermilion, then another turnover and layup by the Ironmen would essentially seal the game.
Anoka-Ramsey shot 45 percent from the field and 10-of-20 from the three-point line, but Vermilion would outscore the Golden Rams 18-9 from the free throw line to pull out the win.
Hayes led all scorers with 25 points shooting 7-of-11 from the three-point line.
Pollard scored 17 points, and Casey chipped in with 12.
The Golden Rams are 6-5 overall and will host the ARCC Holiday Classic on January 2-3.
Anoka-Ramsey will face Dakota County Tech on January 2 at 7pm, and NDSCS on January 3 at 5pm.
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