Ridgeland boys come up short in battle with Cedartown

The Ridgeland Panthers and Cedartown Bulldogs battled tooth-and-nail last Tuesday night, but in the end it was the visiting Bulldogs rallying in the final quarter to pull out a 66-62 victory in a Region 7-AAAA slugfest.

Ridgeland, eyeing its first region win of the season, led by nine in the closing seconds of the opening half, but gave up a basket just before the horn as they went into the locker room with a 3124 advantage.

The Bulldogs opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to forge a 36-33 lead with 3:15 left in the period. However, Ridgeland would counter with a 14-2 spurt of its own. Kyan Clark would beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer and the Panthers took a ninepoint lead into the fourth.

Matthew Ramsey would open the final period with a trey to give the home team its biggest lead of the game, 50-38, but that advantage would quickly evaporate.

Cedartown needed a little less than three minutes to whittle the lead completely away. Xavier Holiday drained three 3-pointers and the Bulldogs’ full-court press defense frustrated the Panthers as the visitors rallied to knot the game at 52 with 5:19 play.

The two teams continued to exchange buckets before a pair of free throws by Ray Smith with 38 seconds to go gave the Bulldogs some breathing room at 64-59. However, Clark would bury a trey with a hand in his face just 13 seconds later and also drew a foul, slicing the Cedartown down to two.

Clark was unable to finish off the 4-point play, but the Bulldogs knocked the ball out of bounds on the rebound attempt, giving the Panthers the ball with an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead.

However, airtight defense by Cedartown would result in a 5-second call and Ridgeland was whistled for an intentional foul on a breakaway lay-up attempt with 15.2 seconds to go.

C.J. Washington would miss both free throws, but on Cedartown’s ensuing possession, Washington drew a foul with 12.7 seconds remaining and this time he connected on both shots, which ultimately proved to be the final margin of victory.

Jeremiah Johnson had 18 points for the Bulldogs and Holiday finished with 14 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter.

Clark matched Johnson for game-high honors with 18 points, including five 3-pointers. Ramsey hit four threes to finish with 12 points and Judd Anderson dropped in 11. Nine points from Zack Harrison, seven by John Hill and three from Chase Hickman rounded out the scoring.

Heritage boys 62, Ridgeland 41

The Panthers trailed by just one point, 27-26, at intermission, but saw the visiting Generals use a big third quarter before going on to the win on Friday.

Ridgeland (1-8, 0-5) got five 3-pointers and 15 points from Clark and eight points from Harrison. Hickman finished with four points, while a trio of Panthers — Anderson, Ramsey and Kobe Lewis — had three points each.

Cedartown girls 79, Ridgeland 28

The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 25-6 lead after the first quarter last Tuesday and never looked back as Qiara Watson had 19 points, 13 coming in the opening stanza.

Shayla Rosson had nine points for the Lady Panthers. Camby Arthur finished with seven and Madison Lennon added four. Haylee Collins ended the night with three points, followed by two apiece from Payton Buchanan and Lexie Young. Macie Boren rounded out the scoring with one point.

Heritage girls 66, Ridgeland 18

Boren paced Ridgeland (0-5 in Region 7-AAAA) with six points in Friday’s home game. Lennon added five. Rosson, Buchanan and Mackensie Miller had two points apiece, while Arthur chipped in with one.

Christian Heritage girls 69, Ridgeland 15

Emma Yarbrough had a team-high five points in Saturday’s non-region road game. Rosson added four, followed by Ragan Wimpee with three, Boren with two and Miller with one as Ridgeland fell to 1-11 overall.

The boys’ game was not played and will most likely not be rescheduled.