The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men's Basketball team picked up two wins against Northern Division opponents this past weekend defeating Rainy River 87-71 on Friday night before routing Hibbing 103-73 on Saturday afternoon.
Vs. Rainy River (W 87-71)
The Golden Rams used a strong defensive effort to offset a mediocre shooting night to dispatch of the Voyageurs.
Anoka-Ramsey trailed 23-22 with 9:49 left in the first half.
An 18-4 run over the next six minutes gave the Golden Rams a 40-27 lead.
Mamadou Ngom scored eight points in the run, and Tyler Matsen knocked down consecutive three-pointers as the Golden Rams took control.
Anoka-Ramsey lead 46-36 at halftime after holding Rainy River to just 38.9 percent shooting.
Collin Price started the second half with a pull-up jumper and a three-pointer to extend the lead to 15 points.
Rainy River cut the deficit to ten, but a Mahad Haji three-pointer pushed the lead back to 56-43.
Trailing 63-48, Rainy River went on a 8-2 run to pull within nine but that's the closest they would get.
The Golden Rams put the game away using a 10-0 run and take their largest lead at 19 points with 6:58 remaining.
Anoka-Ramsey shot just 42.5 percent but held Rainy River to 38.2 percent shooting.
The Golden Rams made 17 of 19 free throws and committed a season-low eight turnovers.
Ngom recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to go with a team-high four assists.
Falmata Tula picked up his second double-double of the season with 14 points and ten rebounds off the bench.
Haji scored 12 points, all in the second half, making 2 of 3 three-pointers.
Price finished with 11 points, and Matsen chipped in with ten to round out the double figure scorers.
Vs. Hibbing (W 103-73)
The Golden Rams wasted little time in dispatching of the Cardinals jumping ahead 20-8 after six minutes of play.
The lead extended to 27-8, then 36-13 with nine minutes left in the half.
Anoka-Ramsey shot 55.3 percent from the field in the first half including 9 of 19 (47.4 percent) from the three-point line in building a 59-31 halftime lead.
Hibbing managed just 28.6 percent shooting and 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.
The second half started out the same with consecutive layups from Ngom, Harley Shear, and Edvonte Copeland to build the lead up to 34 points.
A three-pointer from Matsen gave the Golden Rams their largest lead of the game, 76-36 and they would cruise for the win from there.
Anoka-Ramsey shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the field making a season-high 15 three-point field goals.
Seven different Golden Rams made at least one three-pointer on the afternoon, and all 11 players recorded at least two rebounds.
Price lead the scoring with 20 points on 6 of 10 from the three-point line.
Ngom scored 15 points and pulled in six rebounds.
Shear scored a career-high 13 points making 6 of 7 shots to go with a career-high seven assists.
Brandon Hixson scored ten points on 5 of 7 shooting.
The Golden Rams improve to 3-4 on the season and will travel to Itasca Community College on Friday for a 8:00pm start, followed by a game at Northland Community and Technical College on Saturday at 3:00pm.