The Rangers led by 21 points late in the third period before the Wolverines began to make their move. John Steely, Tyren Knight and Colby Ross scored six-straight points to pull Vian within 49-34 entering the fourth quarter.
Ross added six more points in the final stanza and Dylan Taylor pumped in 11 points as the Wolverines trimmed to the deficit to five on on two occasions. Ross sank 1-of-2 free throws with 58.2 seconds left to make it 63-58, but Roland’s Dougie Webster sank 4-of-4 free shots and Dakota Weippert added another to push the Ranger lead back to 10 in the closing moments.
Trey Chambers sank two three-pointers and led the Rangers with 18 points, while Kevinn Castleberry came off the bench to record a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Avory Taylor scored nine, Webster eight, Levi Biggerstaff six, Gage Ramalho six, Weippert five, Will Roam two and Drew Roberts two.
Biggerstaff grabbed nine rebounds and Webster had seven as the Rangers held a big edge on the boards.
Taylor was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points for Vian. Knight had another 13 points, Ross 10, Steely six, Tyren Samuels four, Justin Blackbird three and Blake Bennett two. Steely was Vian’s top rebounder with eight and Knight came down with seven.
Roland opened the game with a 8-0 run and a basket by Chambers had the Rangers up 12-3 at the end of the first quarter. The Rangers continued to build their lead in the second perid and went up by 16 when Chambers buried a trey with a minute left in the half.
They took their biggest lead of the night late in the third quarter when Castleberry, Roberts and Webster had baskets in a 6-0 run to make it 49-28 with 1:35 left in the period.
Vian began to rally after that, but could not avoid its first loss of the season as Roland moved into the championship game.
