Trailing 74-70, Ranney took the lead 75-74 on a scoop layup by Lewis (25 points) and an ensuing 3-pointer from Antoine (29 points) with 43 seconds remaining. But they failed to score the rest of the way and MacDuffie made free throws to close it out. MacDuffie is a team loaded with Division 1 commits like Wake Forest-bound forward Ismael Massoud, who won game MVP honors after posting 26 points and 9 rebounds. UConn-bound guard James Bouknight went for 17 points and 11 rebounds with his future head coach Dan Hurley and assistant Kimani Young on hand. Uncommitted junior Richard Springs added 18 points and 9 rebounds in the win..@BryanAntoine_ misses a potential go-ahead 3 and @MacDuffieHoops wins 79-75. First loss this year for @RanneyAthletics pic.twitter.com/LdMULsvIBS
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) January 13, 2019
MacDuffie coach Jacque Rivera came away impressed with Ranney. “Bryan Antoine is a really good player, as is Scottie,” he said. “And they do a really good job of surrounding them with other pieces. I thought coming into this game the key was making sure that Alex Klatksy doesn’t hit threes.” The Florida-bound Klatksy shot 2-of-3 for 6 points and made a 3-pointer to tie it. Philip Wheeler, the 6-foot-8 junior forward who sat 30 days after transferring from Roselle Catholic, had 8 points and 5 rebounds in his Ranney debut. “You can only do so much on a kid like Bryan,” Rivera said. “He’s shifty, he’s quick, he can score on all three levels. And I thought get the ball out of their hands and make other guys make plays.” Ranney will go forward in its pursuit of Shore Conference and state titles, but has several other key games upcoming. They will face 6-11 Jaden McDaniels and Federal Way (WA) on Monday at the Hoophall Classic, and have a looming date with Kentucky-bound Kahlil Whitney Roselle Catholic on Jan. 30 at Brookdale. Whitney went for 24 points and 11 rebounds earlier Sunday as the Lions beat Archbishop Stepinac in a matchup of the reigning New Jersey and New York state champions. “Listen, our ultimate goal, no offense to MacDuffie, wasn’t beating MacDuffie at the Empire Invitational,” Ranney coach Tahj Holden said. “We want to win the Tournament of Champions, we want to win a state championship, a Shore Conference championship. “It’s frustrating to lose any game, but we still have games to play, we still have opponents who are just as tough if not tougher than those guys who posed some problems for us. We’ll go back, we’ll get to work [Monday] and tomorrow’s a new day.” Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And like ZAGS on FacebookUConn commit James Bouknight & @MacDuffieHoops knock off Ranney #EmpireInvite pic.twitter.com/PRYDahjxMY
— Empire Invitational (@EmpireInvite) January 13, 2019