Rams horn Bears, 61-23

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's been called the slaughter rule, the mercy rule, and the 10- run rule, depending on the sport.

In basketball, when one team is beating the other by 35 points, they just let the clock run. It's necessary when a team is out-matched, out-paced and out-gunned. It was necessary when Central met Ridgewood in a Class 5A, District 7 match-up Tuesday night.

Coming into the game, Central's Darryn Frazier was the district's leading scorer, averaging 25 points per game for the 0-5 Bears. But Frazier didn't start against Ridgewood and didn't play at all in the first quarter.

"That's team information, we keep it in the team," said second-year CHS Head Coach Eric Hayes of the junior guard. "It's something we had to deal with."

With 56 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Rams were up 17-0. Ridgewood's Luke Poderis led all scorers with six points including a dunk. Alvin Satram had five points, and the only Ridgewood three-pointer. Central was held to two points in the first quarter, a field goal by Jessey Fulton.

Frazier started the second quarter, but it was already too late. He scored a field goal and went 3-for-5 from the line for five points, the Bears' only points of the quarter. Ridgewood rattled off another 19 to make it 39-7 at the half.

"The second half we came out with a little bit of fire," said Coach Hayes. "We did some stuff offensively, played with some pride. The first half I just feel like we got down and it was like, 'it's over,' but, the second half they came out fighting."

Frazier and Barrett Sheffield combined for six more points in the third, while Ridgewood had six more field goals and two free throws to send the game into running time.

Coach Hayes seemed optimistic about the rest of the season, and told his team that perseverance was the key. "We just keep plugging away; keep working on the things we work on; working on our offensive plays, working on our defenses, working on our fundamentals. (We'll) get better as a team as a whole.

"We have a game Friday at River Ridge. That's what I tell our guys about basket ball as opposed to football. We don't play one game a week, we keep playing, tonight and again in two days. We'll bounce back, work at it again. We just keep plugging just keep working away."