Roy-Hart cagers surge past Alden

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Andy Xapsos (0) puts up a shot over the Alden duo of Austin Zelasko (11) and Jordan Stockweather (13) during the Rams win over the visiting Bulldogs.

A big scoring burst to open the final quarter keyed Roy-Hart to a 51-48 victory over visiting Alden this evening in a non league game.

Trailing by five, 36-31, at the three-quarter mark, Roy-Hart opened the decisive final period with 16-4 scoring surge to rally into the lead for good.

Two rebound baskets and a layup by Chris Anderson along with two layups by Andy Xapsos and a layup off a steal by Ben Maynard highlighted that uprising which rallied Roy-Hart into the lead for good at 47-40 with two minutes remaining.

Alden did rally back two within two at 47-45 with 19 seconds remaining but Xapsos answered with four straight clutch free throws to put the Rams back up by six at 51-45 with five seconds to go and put a lock on the victory.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Ben Maynard (3) goes in for a layup against Alden’s Jordan Stockweather.

Xapsos scored 10 of his game high 21 points and Anderson 8 of his 15 to lead Roy-Hart’s decisive 20-12 fourth period scoring surge.

Alden jumped out to a 14-8 first period lead and was up by nine, 20-11, midway through the second quarter.

However, Roy-Hart closed the period with a 9-0 run including a three and two free throws by Xapsos, a layup by Maynard and a jumper by Nelson Andrade to rally into a 20-20 tie at the break.

A three-point play by Anderson and a pair of free throws by Xapsos rallied Roy-Hart into a 28-26 lead late in the third period but Alden closed the stanza with s 10-3 run to move back into a 36-31 lead at the three-quarter mark. Dylan Riddoch scored 8 of his 13 points in the period to lead the Bulldogs uprising.

Xapsos and Anderson though combined to 18 points in the final period to key the comeback victory for the Rams.

Andrade tallied 7, Maynard 6 and James DiLorenzo 2 on the evening for Roy-Hart which improves to 4-1.