WILLMAR — Que Long hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to give the Ridgewater boys basketball team its third straight win.
The Warriors defeated Western Tech 82-80 on Saturday. With the win, Ridgewater improves to 12-9 overall and 5-4 in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference.
Leading 80-77, Ridgewater tied the score with 3.5 seconds left on Aiden Wichman's 3-pointer. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw. The ball was knocked out of bounds by Western Tech, and the Warriors got it back with 1.9 seconds left. Long took the inbounds pass and made a shot from 18 feet.
Long, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard from Enid, Oklahoma, had 13 points and eight rebounds. He was one of five players to reach double digits at Ridgewater.
Khalid Muhumed led the Warriors with 16 points. Muhumed is a 6-2 freshman wing from Wilmar. Noah Wiltz (14 points), Marwin Abdi (12 points) and Aiden Wichman (11 points) also scored in double figures.
Western Tech's Dalton Collins scored a game-high 29 points. Karen Rauls had a double-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Ridgewater will play St. Cloud Technical & Community College at the Whitney Recreation Center in St. Cloud on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Ridgewater 82, Western Tech 80
Western Tech (7-14) 35 45 — 80
Ridgewater (12-9) 37 45 — 82
Western Tech – Scoring: Karen Rauls 19, Evan Matthews 4, Clayton Blevins 4, Austin Grams 4, Damian Phanmaker 7, Jalen Roman 2, Dalton Collins 29, Shaun Evans 4, Colin Wiese 7 … 3-pointers: Laurus 2, Collins 2 … Rebound leader: Laurus 10 … Assist leader: Laurus 6 … Steal leader: Fan Maker 5 … Block leader: Blevins 1
Ridgewater – Scoring: Noah Wiltz 14, Aiden Wichman 11, Marwin Abdi 12, Khalid Muhumed 16, Ke Ron 13, Tanner Swanson 5, Zek Munoz 5, Keegan Schreider 2, Manny Hernandez. 4 … 3-pointers: Wiltz 3, Wichman 3, Muhumed 4, Long 1, Swanson 1, Munoz 1 … Rebound leader: Munoz 9, Long 8 … Assist leader: Schrider 6 … Steal leader: Wiltz 2 … Block leader: Muhumed 1, Hernandez 1
Four of Ridgewater's six wrestlers reached the finals at the Northland Open in Thief River Falls.
Cole Horien, a sophomore from Atwater Cosmos-Grove City, won the 141-pound weight class with a 3-0 record. He won all three matches through the fall, including a pin of Mary's Gabe Mortensen in 3 minutes and 18 seconds.
Eden Valley Watkins sophomore Austin Schlangen won 3-0 at 285. In the championship match, he defeated Concordia-Moorhead sophomore and Willmar graduate Mason Swanson by a 10-6 decision.
Rogers College sophomore Ross Meskimen went 2-0 along the way and took first place with 184 points. In the final, he faced Itasca's London Kaiser and won by default due to injury.
ACGC sophomore Brady Holian took second at 149. In the final, he lost 15-4 to Itasca's Victor Garcia with a 2-1 record.
In addition to Swanson's 2-1 tournament, Concordia-Moorhead had another area wrestler in the 285 tournament. Yellow Medicine East junior Ayden Friese took third place with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss.
Ridgewater will travel to Collegeville for a double game against St. John's on Friday at 7 p.m.
