Boys Basketball: Lake Ridge finishes strong to beat Open Door in playoff preview

ELYRIA — If this was a playoff preview, next Tuesday should be a good one. Open Door and Lake Ridge met in a non-conference game Monday night, and it was a dandy. The largest lead was seven points and there were nine lead changes and six ties before the Royals finished the game on a 10-2 run to pull out a 70-65 win. The same teams will be back at Open Door next Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a Division IV sectional opener. "What better way to end the season than to play Open Door and turn around and play them again next week," Royals coach Alan George said. "It's always a dogfight with Open Door, they are tough competitors and are always pushing for that win. It's always a great game between Lake Ridge and Open Door." The Patriots (3-16) opened quickly, getting 3-pointers from Julius Moon and RJ Penney, but Lake Ridge (10-6) was ready and exited the first quarter with a 15-13 lead thanks to six points from senior Ted DeMarco. "This was back-and-forth, but we've been preaching all year to just grit and grind," said DeMarco, who finished with a team-high 21 points. "We got beat bad the last time I was here, so this was great to get them back tonight. "This was like a perfect simulation of the playoffs with the pressure and atmosphere. Toward the end we were able to just stay calm and collected." The Royals looked quite calm early in the second period after Jake Kolbay drilled three straight 3-pointers to give them the largest lead of the night at 26-19. It didn't matter to the Patriots, who closed the quarter on an 18-6 run. Jai'den Guerra-Howard did most of the damage, scoring 11 of his game-high 23 points in the final 2:50 of the half as the Patriots turned around things to take a 37-32 lead. The game remained tight through the third, as DeMarco added 13 for the Royals and Guerra-Howard scored another eight for Open Door, tying the game at 54 going to the fourth quarter. Guerra-Howard scored four early points, Kevin Ford II (15 points) scored on a layin and Julius Moon hit a 3-pointer to put the Patriots up 63-60 with 3:34 left. Lake Ridge responded, getting three free throws by Kolbay (21 points), a 3-pointer from Ryan Pawloski and a pair of free throws from junior guard Jose Gomez with 1:24 left to give the Royals a 68-63 lead. "We needed to get back into rhythm, especially me coming back from having a broken finger," said Gomez, who finished with 14 points. "I think this game gave us a lot of confidence to come back next week and win that playoff game." Guerra-Howard answered with a driving bucket with just over a minute left to cut the lead to 68-65, but that was the last basket for the Patriots, who missed four 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds. "It's always a battle when we get together with Lake Ridge and that goes back for a while now," Open Door coach Kevan Ford said. "We didn't win a lot of 50-50 balls and giving up those second-chance points can really come back to hurt you. "We lost our legs a little bit at the end, some shots didn't fall, but at that point we were in rush mode just trying to make something happen." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. LAKE RIDGE 70, OPEN DOOR 65 LAKE RIDGE (70): Jose Gomez 5-2-14, Connor Spencer 0-0-0, Ryan Pawloski 3-1-8, Jake Kolbay 6-5-21, Sam Calcut 1-2-4, Ted DeMarco 9-3-21, Jackson Beach 1-0-2. Totals 25-13-70. OPEN DOOR (65): Jai'den Guerra-Howard 10-1-23, RJ Penney 3-0-9, Mitch Wiley 0-0-0, Julius Moon 4-0-10, Aaron Pattee 2-0-6, Caleb Brooks 1-0-2, Kevan Ford II 7-0-15. Totals 27-1-65. Lake Ridge 15 17 22 16 — 70 Open Door 13 24 17 11 — 65 Three-point goals: Lake Ridge 7-27 (26 percent, Kolbay 4, Gomez 2, Pawloski); Open Door 10-25 (40 percent, Penney 3, Guerra-Howard 2, Moon 2, Pattee 2, Ford II). Field goals: Lake Ridge 25-59 (42 percent); Open Door 27-67 (40 percent). Free throws: Lake Ridge 13-19 (68 percent); Open Door 1-6 (17 percent). Rebounds: Lake Ridge 38, Open Door 44. Turnovers: Lake Ridge 10, Open Door 13. Fouled out: Calcut; Brooks.