Ripon took the lead early in the first quarter and held it until the fourth when East Union started the on an 11-5 run behind Kirk Simoni’s trio of 3-pointers, and the visiting Lancers held on for a 55-50 non-league boys basketball road win.

“That was a great fourth quarter,” East Union coach Dutch Ell said. “Ripon rebounds incredibly well, they crash the boards very, very hard. We talked about how one of the keys to this game was to limit them to one shot.

“They got us a little bit in the first half, and in the second half they went zone, and we started to move the ball and we got the ball in the hands of Kirk Simoni, who shot very well. Lorenzo Jones attacked the boards, and our boys took pride in our defense, and I am incredibly proud of them.”

Simoni tallied 12 points in the final period and 14 on the night.

“We worked together as a team,” Simoni said. “We wanted to jump-start our energy and we were feeding off each other, which is good.”

Jones (six points, four assists, steal) owned the boards with 13 rebounds.

“I think my role on the team is to rebound,” Jones said. “I just know what I do, and that helps the team.”

The Lancers’ man-to-man defense held the Indians (0-2) to just 10 fourth-quarter points, with the last Ripon field goal coming with 3:38 left in the game.

“In the program, we talk so much about taking pride in the defensive end,” Ell said. “And if you can outwork a team, come out here and make it very difficult to move the ball against us, we are a very dangerous team.”

Ricky Soria added 11 points for East Union (2-1), and Jackson Fay eight.

The Indians led 40-37 entering the fourth quarter.

“We played great for three quarters,” Ripon coach Dean Balcao said. “In the fourth quarter, they went on a three-point barrage. We probably should have got out of the zone a little earlier, but we were living by the zone and we died by the zone.

“East Union was scrappy and they played hard. Their man-to-man defense gave us some fits, and we started spreading it out and that helped a little bit.”

The Indians jumped out to a 20-9 first-period lead behind Marcus Madoski’s eight points. Madoski finished with 18 points, just missing a double-double with eight rebounds along with two steals and two blocks. Logan Lefebvre chipped in 13 points.

“The shots went cold toward the end of the second quarter,” Madoski said. “We are missing a couple of our scorers so it will take us some time to adjust.

“We’re a good team. Everybody here is coachable, and I’m sure we will bounce back.”

On Saturday, the Lancers host Gregori at 4 p.m., and Ripon travels to Atwater at 6:30 p.m.

Junior varsity

East Union 55, Ripon 32

Chase Kalin paced the Lancers with 19 points with Jace Bettencourt chipping in 13 points.

Demario Gamboa led the Indians with seven points.

Freshman

East Union 43, Ripon 26

Kylil Mallory scored 12 points for the Indians and Adrian Sena nine.