Ridgewood starts slow, but stuns Friars

Updated: March 23, 2011 11:48AM

What term do you use to describe the team that defeats a giant-killer?

One day after Fenwick dropped De La Salle from the unbeaten ranks, the Friars had the tables turned on them by Ridgewood Saturday night.

Though they hit just one of nine shots from the floor in the fourth quarter, the Rebels connected on five of six attempts from the foul line in the final minute to earn a 48-42 victory in Oak Park.

"This is one of the bigger wins (this season), they play in the Catholic League and they play some good teams," Ridgewood junior Andy Mazurczak said. "And they just beat De La Salle, so it was a big win for us.

"So we just came out from the beginning and played tough. We knew it was going to be a tough game."

Mazurczak hit all four of his free throws in the fourth quarter, and also knocked down two three-pointers to finish with a game-high 14 points. Pete Mroz finished with 10 points, and Nick Burt added nine tallies for Ridgewood (12-2).

The Rebels fell behind 6-0 to open the game and missed nine straight shots to open the contest, before they recovered with four consecutive makes to take a 12-8 lead after the opening period.

Fenwick (7-6) struggled to get on track early, turning the ball over 10 times in the first half. The Friars responded in the third quarter, and took a 33-32 lead with just over two minutes left when a basket by Peter Haefner capped an 8-2 run.

Tyler Sewall (three three-pointers) and sophomore Patrick Hart each had nine points for Fenwick, which also tied the game at 40-40 in the fourth quarter on a basket by Tim Gancer.

Ridgewood had just one turnover after the intermission and scored the game's final five points, while sealing the victory on a late steal by Alex Milosevic.

"I have to be honest with you, we thought we could come in here and compete," said Rebels coach Chris Mroz. "We are 12-2 and we have some good players, and we are just trying to get better every day. I am so proud of these guys it is not even funny."

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