Rams Hold Off Pesky Wolverines

It wasn't always the prettiest game at Rockville Friday night, but the Rams boys basketball team was able to eke out a 42-40 win over Watkins Mill.

The team used a half-court trap very well in the first half, and played tight defense for much of the game. Despite having an admitted off-day offensively, they were able to hold off the pesky Wolverines.

“The bad news is that we didn't play great today,” Rockville coach GJ Kissal said. “We couldn't put our finger on exactly why, but the good news is that we still came away with the win.”

Early on the team was paced by Ryan Lambert, who scored seven of his 11 points in the first quarter. Lambert added a three with no time remaining in the first to give Rockville the early lead.

Neither team could pull away from the other for three quarters. The largest lead until the fourth quarter was four points. DeAndre Kelly took over late, scoring most of his 13 points in the second half. The Rams extended their lead to seven with 90 seconds left, but had to hold off a furious assault by the Wolverines to pick up the win.

“There were a few moments in the last 90 where I was like 'here we go, we're going to screw this up'” Kissal said. “But then I saw in their eyes that they corrected themselves, reasserted themselves and were going to win. We've learned from our errors in the past.”

The Rams have a tough three games left before the playoffs. They travel to face Magruder on Tuesday, face Gaithersburg at home on Friday before finishing the season against cross-town rivals Richard Montgomery the following week. Kissal believes his team is ready to face the tough tasks next week.

“We're at the point where we are trying to play the best basketball we can play, and the style of basketball that we want to play,” Kissal said. “If we play well, we'll be in the games the next week...we'll see if we're up to the challenge.”