By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
WILLIAMSTON — With two seconds left on the clock Washington sharpshooter Ridge Hodges launched a three-pointer from the right side of the court looking to force overtime against Riverside, however, Hodges’ shot was off target leaving the Knights to hold on to 61-58 victory on Wednesday.
Hodges scored a team-high 14 points, while teammates Josh O’Neill and Brandon Tripp each scored 10 to lead Washington.
That trio’s effort was not enough to overcome the play of Riverside’s Tremaine Beach and Ramelle Lanier. Beach poured in a game-high 19 points, while Lanier tallied 17 to power the Knights past the Pam Pack (1-3) for the second time this season.
Lanier scored 10 of his 17 points during a pivotal second quarter in which Riverside out-scored Washington 19-5 to take a 34-29 lead into halftime.
After the break, the Knights’ hot hand continued as they went on a 14-9 run to pull ahead 48-38 going into the fourth quarter.
Down 10 with eight minutes to go, Washington refused to roll over and slowly chipped away at the Knights’ lead.
The Pam Pack grew closer after the Knights’ Chuck Mobley got whistled for a technical foul at the 2:38 mark with his team leading 58-52.
Hodges made both of his free throws, and on the ensuing possession O’Neill hit a jumper to cut the lead to 58-56, but the Pack would get no closer.
“We put in a good effort in the second half,” Washington coach Steve Flowers said. “The first half I thought we let down defensively and we didn’t play as hard as we could play. In the second half we played defensively, and when we do that we can play with anybody.”
Pam Pack 57, Knights 45
Washington center Shaquoya May continues to be a force for the Pam Pack in the paint as she tallied a game-high 25 points to go along with her 16 rebounds to lead Washington to a 57-45 win over the upstart Knights.
After finishing second in the state in the 1-A classification last season, Riverside graduated its star tandem of Katie Paschal and Cassie Harrell and has new nucleus of players.
The new group proved it had a big heart by fighting the Pam Pack all the way to the end, but it just did not have the size to contend with the Washington post players.
Aside from May’s double-double, the Pam Pack (4-0) got a big effort out of Beth Batchelor who played stellar defense while tallying 16 points. Washington also got six points from its other forward Staneshia Griffin as well as guard Rakira Ward.
Riverside (3-4) was led by Dasia Moore and freshman Jalyn Brown who each scored 11.
Washington got up early thanks to the play of Batchelor and May and took a comfortable 28-15 lead into halftime. However, the Knights were able to prevent a runaway game by staying even with the Pam Pack in the second half.
“We came out really strong and had a good level of intensity on defense and I thought offensively we did a good job of running our plays and executing them,” Washington coach Allison Jones said. “Then we kind of lost focus a little bit and got into some foul trouble and that kind of changed what we wanted to do.”
Riverside coach Hughes Barber said that his team struggled to keep May in check.
“(May) is a tough player to defend,” Barber said. “In both games we played this year she had over 20 points. We knew coming in we were at a height disadvantage and I thought we got behind early because we didn’t do a good job of denying her the ball in the post. But overall, I was pleased with our second-half effort defensively and offensively.”
Boys game
Washington 24 5 9 20 — 58
Riverside 15 19 14 13 — 61
Girls game
Washington 13 15 12 17 — 57
Riverside 6 9 12 17 — 45