AHOSKIE – Austin Britton poured in 21 points to pace Ridgecroft School to a 63-26 thumping of Terra Ceia Christian School here Tuesday night.

The Knights hung around early, but the second and third quarter proved too much as the home-standing Rams claimed the Tarheel Independent Conference win.

“I thought we got a good effort from everyone,” said Rams’ skipper Tim Boone. “We haven’t shot well from the three-point line in our last few games so I jokingly told them last night that we wouldn’t take a three-pointer unless the clock was about to expire.

“They did what I asked and worked the ball inside and then we were able to hit a few from the outside,” he added. “Also, I thought we played extremely well on the defensive end.”

Britton started the scoring for the Rams, but was answered quickly by a Jacob Latham bucket for TCCS. The Rams edged ahead 5-2 thanks to a free throw and hoop from Ethan Phelps, but the Knights got a Kiam Boerema bucket to get back to within one (5-4).

The game stayed closed through most of the first quarter, but the Rams began to pull away late in the period.

Michael Byrum hit back-to-back buckets and then Britton buried a triple to give the Rams a 16-7 advantage with 57 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Boerema and Latham hit consecutive buckets for the Knights to close out the quarter as they got within 16-11.

The Rams wasted little time getting started again in the second quarter as Nathan Pearce scored from the floor followed by a Britton basket. Latham stopped the spurt with a triple, but Hanes Joyner and Phelps scored to give the Rams a 23-14 edge.

Terra Ceia got another hoop from Latham to keep them close, but a free throw from Britton and a bucket by Phelps gave Ridgecroft a 10-point lead (26-16) at the intermission.

The second half started with a Braxton Sumner hoop for the Rams and a pair of Joyner free throws to push the Ridgecroft lead to 30-16.

Following a three-pointer from Justin Lilley that got the Knights within 11, the Rams scored 11 unanswered points to push their advantage to 41-19.

Britton started the spurt and was followed by a hoop from Sumner, a triple from Pearce and then a basket each from Patrick Dilday and Pearce. Latham scored for the Knights, but was answered by a free throw from Dilday and a Sumner bucket as the Rams led 44-21 after three quarters.

Britton scored the first five points of the fourth period and Sumner added a hoop as the Rams went ahead 51-21. Lilly answered with a triple, but the Knights got no closer than 29 the remainder of the way.

In addition to Britton’s 21 points, the Rams got 11 from Pearce and 10 from Sumner. Phelps and Byrum had six each while Dilday added five and Joyner had four.

Ridgecroft (8-3) will finish out their Tarheel Independent Conference schedule tonight (Thursday) at Lawrence.