Lions edge Panthers

One could say that Red Bank won Tuesday’s basketball game in the Nick of time.

Nick Ross shook off a rough first half with a 14-point third quarter and blocked a shot in the final seconds as the Lions held off Brainerd, 68-65, in a District 6-AA battle at Red Bank.

Ross finished with 29 points.

Coach John Cherne was pleased with his Lions’ effort, calling it the “first time we’ve played as a team,” but knew they might have sneaked a win from a Brainerd team that outplayed the hosts at times.

“Brainerd’s not our rival yet, but it looks like they might be turning into one,” he said. “How could they not?”

The Panthers used a pressure man defense that shook up the Lions in the early going and took a seven-point lead into halftime, but their prospects seemed to head south when point guard Jalen Stallion picked up his fourth foul two minutes into the third quarter.

Brainerd led 33-26 at the time, but the Lions (5-0, 2-0) switched to a full-court press, forcing turnovers in the backcourt and converting them into layups. They went on a 28-13 run over the final 6:12 of the period and led 54-46.

“That’s our point guard, our quarterback,” Brainerd coach Robert High said. “He had been doing such a good job against their pressure, so that definitely hurt us.”

And Ross scored 12 consecutive in the period, including back-to-back 3s.

The Panthers (4-5, 1-2) remained in the contest by controlling the boards. Darrius Higgins and Joe Derrick combined for 23 rebounds, and both had putbacks to trim the Red Bank lead to 54-52 with 5:39 to play.

The margin never stretched past six points the rest of the way, but a 3 by Brainerd’s Damon Warren cut the lead to 66-65 with 15.9 seconds to go.

Ross hit a pair of free throws, then had the big block to seal the win.

Kelvin Clay finished with 12 points for the Lions. Higgins had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Warren had 19 points and Derrick scored 12 to go with his 10 rebounds.

“It was a tough loss, but the effort was there,” High said. “Those were the best four quarters we’ve had. As long as we continue to do what we did tonight, I’ll be a happy camper.”

Said Cherne: “It took us a while to find something that worked; we weren’t ready for their pressure early on. The kids did a good job of listening and executing what we drew up.”