MORRAL (Crawford County Now) — Ridgedale didn’t fire from the launch pad early. But a strong second half, in which the Rockets outscored Wynford by 12, gave the hosts a 59-54 non-conference win on Monday night.

In fact, leading scorer Billy Wren had just two points in the first half, but he ended with a team-high 17 to lead the Rockets. Ayden Salyer added 14. Wren also had 4 rebounds and a steal.

That offset a terrific shooting night for Wynford’s 6-foot-3 sophomore Drew Stanek. He fired in 32 points, including 6 shots from beyond the arc, to lead his team. Stanke added 9 rebounds and a pair of steals.

“We got off to a slow start. But we kept battling and battling. And then, I liked where we were at the end of the second quarter. But they went on a little flurry there to go up 7,” Ridgedale head coach Mike Mathey said.

Stanek’s turn-around 3 at the buzzer put the Royals up 29-22 at halftime.

“We talked about chipping away and by the fourth quarter, get it to 3,” Mathey said. “Our guys were able to come out on top tonight.”

His team did exactly that, trailing 45-42, thanks largely to Wren’s 9 points and Salyer’s 5 in the third quarter. The Royals pushed the lead to 50-42 off a Stanek steal and lay-up.

Reed Johnson drilled a 3, but Kayden Kraviec’s shot kept Wynford at bay. Wren hit a pair of baskets down the stretch to seal the win.

Ridgedale evens its record at 4-4 overall and Wynford slips to 2-4.

Wynford head coach Adam Guinther was a bit disappointed in the overall effort.

“Up until tonight we had gotten the work ethic. Tonight it was frustrating. I had a few kids working their butts off and I had a few kids not putting in the effort tonight,” he said.

“I feel like this is one we let get away. You’re going to have those ebbs and flows with a young team and I expect that. I think their seniors and the physicality that was the difference. They pushed us off and we couldn’t go to places as comfortably as we might want to,” Guinther said.

“Drew getting that many … that’s not been the case this year. We’ve had second guys show up like we did at Upper, and I thought we were getting into a rhythm a little bit.”

The Rockets, meanwhile, have bought in to playing team basketball and a group of 8 seniors have contributed to that mindset.

Ridgedale got 8 points and 5 boards from Isaac Lust, one of those seniors. Three other players had five points each and they hit on 9-of-17 of their 3-point attempts with 4 from Salyer.

“We have stressed ball movement and player movement and making it a very team-oriented game,” Mathey said. “I think it’s very difficult to prepare for a team that has 3 or 4 guys who can put the ball in the basket night-in and night-out.”

“Our thought process was make him (Stanek) earn it and try to be really good defensively on everyone else. They have some guys who can knock shots down for them. I think No. 14 (Jace Stuckman) had several 3s against Upper Sandusky the other night.

“It was a good team defensive win tonight and they played really hard. That’s all I can ask for,” Mathey said.

The Rockets play Horizon Science Academy on Saturday and Madison Plains Jan. 3 before embarking on Northwest Central Conference play against Ridgemont.

“We’re at 4-4 and in a good position. We’ve had a pretty tough schedule and that will help us. We wanted to bulk up our non-conference schedule a little bit. That way when we get into the conference and the tournament, we’re more prepared.

“Some of the seniors have been playing for me since they were sophomores and some since they were freshmen. They have a lot of games under our belt, and they know what we expect and we’re starting to see it.”

The path gets no easier for the Royals, who got 7 rebounds and two steals from sophomore Jaron Vance.

“We’ve got Carey back-to-back with (Colonel) Crawford, the two best teams in the league, coming up,” Guinther said. “But I think we’ll bounce back and be ready to go Saturday when we play Carey.”

Box score

Wynford       13     16      13     12 — 54

Ridgedale      9     13       23     14 — 59

Wynford (2-4): Shots 19-54; 3-pt. shots 8-18 (Drew Stanek 6, Reed Johnson, Clay Rogers); Free throws 8-13; Rebounds 24 (Drew Stanek 9); Turnovers 9. Scoring: Jaron Vance 3 2 8, Reed Johnson 3 0 7, Drew Stanek 10-6 32, Evan Stacklin 1 0 2, Clay Rogers 2 0 5.

Ridgedale (4-4): Shots 22-63; 3-pt. shots 9-17 (Ayden Salyer 4, Isaac Lust 2, Billy Wren 2, Mason Turner); Free throws 6-10; Rebounds 23 (Isaac Lust 5); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Vince Shuster 2 1 5, Ayden Salyer 5 0 14, Isaac Lust 2 2 8, J.J. Slaughterbeck 2 1 5, Billy Wren 7 1 17, Mason Turner 2 0 5, Kayden Kraviec 2 1 5.

JV: Ridgedale 57-42.