Ramapo hangs on to beat Ridgewood 55-51 by Sean Farrell of The Record
RIDGEWOOD – The pregame jitters were only natural for Kyle Hroncich.
The stands were full. The crowd was loud. The atmosphere was different from those freshman games.
But when Ramapo’s 5-foot-8 sophomore point guard took the court for his first varsity start, he looked at ease.
He controlled the offense. He moved the ball around. And he contributed to the Green Raiders’ new-look attack by scoring 12 points.
The steady play by Hroncich helped No. 8 Ramapo escape with a tough 55-51 road win over No. 13 Ridgewood in an opening night game Friday in the Big North Freedom.
“I don’t want to give him an ‘A’ because then there’s no room for improvement,” Ramapo coach Joseph Sandberg said. “But he was pretty good.”
The Green Raiders are coming off a sensational season when they went 25-4 and reached the North 1, Group 3 championship game. But the core of that group is gone. Only a few returning players remain.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” Sandberg said. “Ridgewood has a very strong team and a well-coached team. But I knew we had a group of guys who worked extremely hard in the offseason.”
Hroncich took on a bigger responsibility with junior guard Jason Oppler forced to sit on the sidelines for chunks of the game with foul trouble.
Hroncich helped the Green Raiders jump out to an early lead by recording nine points in the first half alone. In the second quarter, he drove the lane and navigated around a few defenders for a finger roll. He converted the highlight-reel shot, drew a foul by being knocked to the floor and slapped the court in celebration.
“He was awesome,” guard KC Hunt said. “He played a main role and led the whole team and we fed off him.”
Hunt scored a team-high 17 points for Ramapo and nailed a trio of 3-pointers.
“He’s the man,” Hroncich said. “I got 100 percent confidence in him. If I give him the ball and I see he has an open shot, I know he’s going to make it.”
Two of Hunt’s 3-pointers came early in the game, as Ramapo started the game on a 15-6 run.
“He’s a special player,” Sandberg said. “He did that for us last year. I have all the confidence in the world in him. He’s only a sophomore. But as you could see on the floor, he’s like a senior.”
Ridgewood clawed back with strong performances by Michael Schretter and Caesar Silvestro.
But Ramapo hung on for the win, thanks to the ball-handling of Hroncich and a few late free throws by Hunt.
“That’s what’s great about us,” Hroncich said. “We always have someone stepping up. Someone’s always there ready to play.”