Richland Northeast’s Kelvin Cruse and Ridge View’s Seth Coleman battle for a rebound. Photo by Marcia Tidwell Richland Northeast’s Travis Hammonds struck for two key 3-point bombs in the last two minutes of the game to carry the Cavaliers past the Ridge View Blazers, 47-45, in a key Region 4-4A contest Friday, January 27 before a rowdy crowd at the Ridge View gym.

Hammonds finished with 15 points for the Cavaliers, followed by Quinn Martin with 11, and Mike Murphy with 10. The Cavs are now 15-3 overall, 7-1 in region play.

Seth Coleman had 15 points for the Blazers (12-9, 5-4), and Ismail Howard followed with 10. A disappointed Ridge View coach John Combs said, “We did not do the things we needed to do to ensure a win. We took one or two bad shots. We turned the ball over at inopportune times, and we did not make our free throws. Ultimately, there were certain things we could not control, but the things we could control, we did not take care of.”

The Blazers came out in the third quarter down 22- 20, and as they often do, upped the defensive pressure on their opponents. They took a 37-31 edge into the fourth before the Cavaliers began chipping back.

Hammonds’ first three came at 2:23 in the fourth and brought the Cavs’ to within 42-40. His second three came with 15.6 seconds left, and he was fouled, sinking the free throw to give the Cavs a 46-45 margin. Ziar Anderson would sink one from the charity stripe with 4.3 seconds left for the final tally. For the Cavaliers’ allstar, it is all about stepping up in the big moments.

“I have done that a few times before,” Hammonds said. “The team counts on me for big things like this. I have to step up and be the player and hit the shot. The play was called comeback. I faked because the other guy knew I was going to shoot it, and it went in.”

Cavaliers’ head coach Jason Powell said, “We probably did not deserve to win. I hate that for them. Our kids fought their way through it and found a way to do it.”

“We don’t like to live that way,” Powell continued. “But this is a senior-laden group, they have been there and done that before and found a way to pull it out again. We are not flowing real well right now. Hopefully, we can get that turned around in time to go into the playoffs.”