The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Men's Basketball team bounced back from their first Southern Division loss with a 98-86 win over Ridgewater College on Wednesday evening.

The Golden Rams came out firing from long range right from the start with three-pointers from Malik Williams, Mamadou Ngom, and Chris Morgan giving Anoka-Ramsey a 9-2 lead.

After a Kevin Schramm jumper, Morgan would connect again from beyond the arc, followed by another three from Ngom, one from Edvonte Copeland, and another from Williams as the lead grew to 23-9 just five minutes into the game.

A 15-5 run by Ridgewater cut the lead to 28-24.

Ramose Riddley connected on two jumpers to go with another three from Williams to push the lead back to 35-26 with 7:33 to play in the half.

Anoka-Ramsey went up by 16, but five quick points from the Warriors cut the Golden Ram lead to 45-34 with 2:55 left before Anoka-Ramsey used a 9-0 run to end the half and lead 54-34 at halftime.

Anoka-Ramsey shot a blistering 58.3 percent from the field in the first half including knocking down 12 of 21 shots (57.1 percent) from the three-point line.

Ridgewater came into the game as one of the nation's leading three-point shooting teams but were held to just 3 of 13 from the arc in the first half.

Ridgewater would not go quietly as they chipped away at the Golden Ram lead and pulled within 73-64 with nine minutes to play.

A Jefferson Belmont jumper, plus four points from Ngom gave Anoka-Ramsey an 81-69 lead with 6:36 to play.

Seven straight points from the Warriors cut the lead to just 81-76 with 4:43 left.

But a Williams three, plus one of two free throws from Schramm and lead was back up to nine.

Ridgewater would score to pull within seven, but a Ngom layup followed by a Zane Lind three would put the Golden Rams back up by 12 with 2:26 left.

The lead grew back to 15 points and the Warriors would not get any closer than 12 the rest of the game.

Anoka-Ramsey finished the night shooting 52.9 percent (37 for 70) and made 18 of 38 three-point attempts (47.4 percent).

The Golden Rams also held a 40-24 edge in rebounding including a 13-5 advantage on the offensive glass.

Ngom finished with 27 points, six rebounds, and five assists while shooting 11 of 16 from the field and 4 of 5 from three-point range.

Williams scored 17 points making 5 of 10 from beyond the arc and dished out seven assists.

Lind finished with 17 points making 3 of 7 threes and 4 of 5 free throws to go with seven rebounds.

Copeland and Morgan each had 11 points, and each made three three-pointers.

Riddley scored eight points and pulled in seven rebounds, six on the offensive end.

The #2 Golden Rams improve to 18-2 overall, 6-1 in the MCAC Southern Division.