Thunder Ridge holds off Highland to keep its hopes alive for a No. 1 district seed

IDAHO FALLS – The top seed in the 6A High Country Conference is yet to be determined.

Highland had a chance to clinch the boys basketball district tournament’s top seed on Friday night, but host Thunder Ridge finished strong on the way to a 57-52 win in front of a raucous crowd decked out in pink for cancer awareness night.

The Rams (16-4, 7-1) suffered their first conference loss and had a six-game win streak snapped.

The outcome was in direct contrast to the last time the team’s met two weeks ago, when the Rams rallied and then hit the game-winner at the buzzer as Boston McCulloch nailed a 3-pointer for the win.

This time it was the Titans’ Camden Bateman with the play of the game as the senior came up with a steal and a break-away dunk with 50 seconds left to give Thunder Ridge a 53-52 lead.

The Titans (15-4, 6-1) hit their free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win.

“This is a really big win,” said Bateman, who finished with a team-high 18 points. “Obviously, Highland and us are the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the conference, so those games are going to be close and exciting and they got us last time. We just had to come out and get ’em this time.”

Thunder Ridge hosts Madison on Wednesday in its final conference game. A win means the Titans and Rams would tie for the conference’s top seed with the tiebreaker being determined by MaxPreps rankings.

Prior to Friday’s game, Highland was ranked No. 8 and Thunder Ridge was No. 9.

If Madison beats Thunder Ridge next week, then the Rams are the top seed with just the one loss.

“I think we’re trying to get better every game,” Thunder Ridge coach TJ Trane said. “That was a huge win to avenge a loss we had down there, and also, on Wednesday (a 77-69 win over Canyon Ridge), we had our season-high in points, so I think we’re shooting the ball excellent and working out the kinks.”

Bateman credited the defense for holding off the Rams in the fourth quarter, but the memory of the previous last-second loss to the Rams wasn’t far off.

“A shot like that just sticks with you for awhile,” he said.

Bateman got his own game-winning shot on Friday.

“That’s just like a dream come true,” Bateman said of the break-away dunk. “When you’re a kid you dream of a moment like that.”

McKay Scoresby finished with 15 points for the Titans and McCulloch led the Rams with 15 points, hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers.