Rams’ big rally downs Mustangs; Purple Eagles best Lakemen to hold N-O lead

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 3 January 2020 at 10:33 pm

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Jamel Johnson Jr. goes up for a shot between Medina defenders Brian Fry and Dontae Rhim during the Rams win over the visiting Mustangs this evening.

Rebounding from as much as an 18 point first half deficit, Roy-Hart came battling back to down defending champion Medina 71-66 in a Niagara-Orleans League game this evening at Middleport.

Trailing by 18, 36-18, Roy-Hart began its comeback by closing the first half with an 8-0 run, including 4 by Aiden Petrie, to cut the deficit to 10, 36-26.

Medina did go back up by 13, 43-30, early in the second half but Roy-Hart answered with a huge 22-1 scoring explosion to rally into the lead for good.

A three by Reed Albee pulled Roy-Hart even at 43-43 and then a three by Peyton Rhinehart put the Rams on top to stay at 46-44 with 2:15 to go in the third period.

Consecutive layups by Gavyn Boyle, Albee and Jamel Johnson Jr. upped the Roy-Hart lead to eight, 52-44, and the Rams maintained a five point, 53-48, lead at the end of the decisive period.

Albee and Tom Ragonese both scored 7 in the period for the Rams as Petrie had 5, Johnson and Rhinehart 3 and Boyle 2.

Keeping the momentum, Roy-Hart went up by 12, 61-49, by opening the final period with an 8-0 run on tallies by Petrie, Rhinehart, Johnson and Boyle.

Medina though came battling back.

A 5-0 run, which included buckets by Jarin Rhim and Christian Drisdom, cut the deficit to seven at 61-54.

Then a 6-0 run, all by Jarin Rhm on two baskets and a pair of free throws, pulled the Mustangs to within three, 65-62, with 1:23 remaining.

The Mustangs then cut the deficit to just two, 66-64, on a basket by Brian Fry with 1:10 to go but could not pull even.

Roy-Hart finally put a lock on the victory on two free throws each by Petrie and Albee and one by Johnson in the final minute.

Petrie finished with 18, Albee 13 and Johnson and Ragonese 11 each to lead the Rams as Rhett Goodwin added 8 and Rhinehart and Boyle 5 each.

(Click here to see a video of Roy-Hart’s Tom Ragonese finish a play with a jumper for 2.)

Nate Sherman led Medina with 19 as Jarin Rhim had 17, Drisdom 14, Tyler Chinn 13, Fry 2 and Dontae Rhim 1.

(Click here to see video of Medina’s Christian Drisdom driving in for a layup bucket.)

Medina jumped out to an eight point, 23-15, first quarter lead by closing the period with a 14-4 run.

Sherman scored 9 and Drisdom 8 in the period to lead the Mustangs.

The Mustangs then opened the second period with a 13-1 run to extend the advantage to 18, 34-16. Chinn scored 5 and Sherman 4 to lead the uprising.

However, Roy-Hart cut the deficit to 10 at the half by closing the period with an 8-0 run and then used a big 27-12 third period scoring edge to rally into the lead for good.

The loss drops Medina to 1-3 in N-O action while Roy-Hart is 1-2.