Bobcat boys lose close one to Ridgefield

Prep basketball

A painful case of deja vu afflicted Aberdeen’s boys on Friday.

Squandering a substantial second-half lead for the second time in three nights, the Bobcats fell in overtime to Ridgefield, 44-43, in a non-league boys basketball game Friday night at Sam Benn Gym.

The loss came on the heels of a two-point loss to River Ridge. in a game AHS led most of the way, on Wednesday. And if the Bobcats were searching for opportunities missed Friday, they need only look at the turnover and foul-shooting statistics.

Aberdeen was guilty of 24 turnovers. The Cats also converted only 4 of 12 free throws — and were the more accurate of the two teams from the stripe. Ridgefield was an even more abysmal 8 of 26.

Those totals negated a strong defensive effort for the Bobcats (1-3), who used an active zone to frustrate Ridgefield (3-1) for most of the distance.

“We did what we needed to do defensively,” AHS coach Mark Buckman. “Down the stretch, when it means the most, we have to be more clutch. We ran out of gas at the end and you could tell that with our decision-making.”

The Bobcats opened up a 35-23 lead on Jeshua Manwell’s fast-break layin at the 1:13 mark of the third quarter.

Despite going scoreless for the opening 5 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, they still led by five, at 40-35, on Javier Bojorge’s basket with 1:11 remaining.

The Spudders, however, capitalized on a pair of missed AHS free throws and tied it at 40 when Tim Radosevich made the second of two foul shots with four seconds left in regulation.

Bojorge nailed a jumper from the right elbow to open overtime. But Ridgefield answered with two Kellen Bringhurst free throws and Kade Ramey’s turnaround jumper from inside the key. The latter, with 39 seconds remaining, gave the Spudders their first lead since the latter stages of the first quarter.

Aberdeen’s Alonzo Coburn, fouled on a 3-point attempt, made only the last of his three free throws at 0:24.

The Spudders gave Aberdeen some openings by missing their final six foul shots in overtime. But the Cats misfired on three field-goal attempts in the final 20 seconds and Derrell Shale’s half-court heave at the buzzer was off the mark.

The 6-foot-3 Ramey led all scorers with 17 points.

Junior guard Ben Dublanko topped Aberdeen with 16 points, while Bojorge added 13. Shale pulled down 13 rebounds and Coburn handed out five assists.

The Bobcats return to action today at Peninsula.

Ridgefield 3 15 10 12 4 — 44

Aberdeen 9 12 14 5 3 — 43

Ridgefield (44) — Radosevich 1, Gama 5, Ramey 17, Short 6, Layman 2, Bringhurst 6, Tudor 5, Lindbo 2. FG — 16-49 (.327). FT — 8-26.

Aberdeen (43) — Manwell 8, Bojorge 13, Dublanko 16, Coburn 2, Shale, Barragan 2, Sidor, Sayres 2, Pisani, Timmons. FG — 17-51 (.333). FT — 4-12.

JV — Aberdeen 48, Ridgefield 44. Payton Miller 13 points for Aberdeen.

C squad — Ridgefield 63, Aberdeen 37.