Keeping things tight

Published: 1/9/2016 9:35 AM

TOWANDA — A buzzer beater by Ridge Williams in overtime helped the Wyalusing Rams remain tied atop the NTL standings after a 40-37 win over Towanda.

“Honestly, I didn’t think we had our best stuff tonight, we didn’t make a lot of shots, but I think our kids competed,” Wyalusing coach Brett Keyes said.

After Towanda missed a free throw the Rams got the ball down to Williams for the winner.

For Keyes there is plenty of trust in Williams having the ball in his hands late.

“We definitely trust him down the stretch, it’s the second time in as many years that he hit a big shot. For as poorly as we shot all night, we didn’t call a timeout and Keshon Gardner did a great job of finding his composure and he found Will Martin who got the ball to Ridge who made the shot. It was an exciting moment obviously for us.”

For the Rams it’s the first time in five years they have beaten Towanda.

“We have been playing fairly well after beating Towanda, to get a win over our rivals for the first time in five years is big,” Keyes said. “We just want to try and get better. I really believe we have a special group. They really believe in what we are doing, we trust one another and we get along. Beating Towanda for us was a big deal, we hadn’t beat them in a couple of years. Our guys were as excited tonight as for any game all year.”

Williams led the Rams with 18 points and Gardner had eight, while Jon Morrison and Will Martin had seven each.

Jarod Boardman and Troy Pierce had 11 each for Towanda and Nick Innocenzo had nine points.

Landon Brown and Shane Martin each had three for Towanda.

Boardman had 11 boards and Innocenzo had six boards and two steals, while Brown had five boards and two assists.

Pierce had five rebounds and blocked two shots for Towanda.

Wyalusing won the JV game 56-17. Kase Cameron led Wyalusing with 11 and Drew Masters had 10. Dylan Hartman led Towanda with seven points.