Keirsey sparks Rams to 10th

His foul shots down the stretch blunted Springfield's comeback.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MINERAL RIDGE -- Fond memories of the Mineral Ridge High boys basketball team's perfect 20-0 regular-season record in the 1987-88 season came drifting back to this year's team Tuesday night, conjuring up hopes that it just could happen again.
The Rams are halfway there at 10-0 after they held off a strong Springfield comeback and surged away behind the free-throw shooting of Vance Keirsey for a 56-49 victory in an Inter-County League game for a 4-0 loop mark.
Keirsey fired in a game-high 20 points, including six straight foul shots, that enabled the Rams to blunt Springfield's comeback that had brought the Tigers to within 49-46 with 2:28 left. Keirsey also grabbed 11 rebounds.
But when the score was 49-46, the Tigers blew a "bunny" shot near the hoop to give Mineral Ridge a reprieve, and then Keirsey launched his free-throw streak and Micah Hall added one more foul shot to finish off the Tigers.
"We were 7-of-8 down the stretch at the foul line. I thought that was huge," Rams coach Del Ruiter said. "We [had been] shooting only about 62 percent from the foul line."
Missed chance
Springfield (5-3, 3-1) coach Grant Spaite said his team missed a key shot that could have turned the tide, and then put Keirsey at the foul line.
"He's their best foul shooter. We didn't want to put him on the line," Spaite said.
But Ruiter cleared that up.
"He's [Keirsey] made the most free throws but [Josh] Garland is our best percentage free throw shooter," Ruiter said.
Spaite said his team got too far behind early in the game as Mineral Ridge jumped out to a 13-2 lead behind Hall's scoring. Hall accounted for eight of those early points and finished with 17.
"Not being able to get over the hump [hurt us]," Spaite said. "We were getting steals but not converting. We were getting non-contested shots but no rebounds."
And, "They hit some big shots."
But, "They only had one goal in the fourth quarter. The kids did a decent job."
Rams' defense glows
Ruiter said that his team turned in a strong defensive performance, especially Keirsey and John Hack.
"Hack and Keirsey did a good job defensively against DeJane and Andrew Schuler," Ruiter said. "Hack did a great job on defense guarding DeJane [who] could have had 30 points. He held DeJane in the first half."
And, "Keirsey limited Schuler."
Jane and Schuler each finished with 15 points to lead Springfield. DeJane also had nine rebounds and three assists while Schuler added four steals and three blocks.
Nick Diana also sparkled for the Rams off the bench with eight points and seven rebounds while Hack also had seven rebounds.
Ruiter said the Rams' strong point is defense.
"We're just not a good shooting team. We have defensive abilities and we get steals. We were averaging 15 steals but we didn't have that tonight," Ruiter said. "Micah Hall hit some big shots in the first half."
After building a 17-6 first-period lead, Mineral Ridge stayed ahead at the half, 28-20, and after three quarters, 47-38, and early in the fourth, 49-38, before Springfield made its move.
The Tigers hit eight unanswered points, including Jeremy Russell's two foul shots that cut the deficit to 49-46, before their missed "bunny" shot and Keirsey's free throws finished them off.
kovach@vindy.com