They held their only lead in the second half for exactly 5.7 seconds, but it was long enough for coach Dan Moris and his River Ridge boys’ basketball team to knock off the fifth-ranked division 5 team in the state last Tuesday night.

With a 65-63 victory over league leading Belmont, the Timberwolves shook up the Six Rivers West conference, dropping the Braves (9-2, 15-2) into second place with two losses, and vaulting Potosi/Cassville (8-1, 10-5), who defeated Shullsburg the same night, into the top spot. River Ridge (7-3, 11-6) jumped a half game ahead of Shullsburg (7-4, 9-8) into the third spot.“It was a great team win for us,” said coach Dan Moris. “As a team, we were able to take care of the ball when we had it, get stops on defense when we needed it, and counter any run they went on.”

After taking a 34-33 lead into the locker room at intermission, the Braves came out in the second half and quickly pushed their lead to six points at 41-35 in the first three minutes.

River Ridge responded with buckets from Brock Bunge and Reese Drew to pull back within one point at 44-43 with 12:22 showing on the clock.

For the next eight minutes, the two teams were tied once at 48-48 before the Braves held another six point lead at 58-52 with four minutes to play.

While Belmont scored only one field goal and was 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the final four minutes to score five points, River Ridge netted 13 points on five field goals and two free throws in the final four minutes, getting seven points from senior guard Brandon Davis.

The Timberwolves took their only lead of the second half at 64-63 with 5.7 seconds to play on a runner in the lane by Davis. Following a turnover by the Braves, a free throw by Jackson White with 2.8 seconds to play sealed the victory, though a half court heave by Belmont’s Boone Havens bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.

Davis concluded the contest with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the floor, netting 14 points in the second half. He also pulled down six rebounds to go along with a team-high four steals.

Bunge finished with 10 points, followed by nine from Reynolds, seven from Reese Drew and six from Lane Copsey.

While the Braves outscored River Ridge 33-24 from 3-point land, the Timberwolves held a 34-24 scoring edge inside the arc and a 7-6 edge at the free throw line.

“We’ve played in so many tight games this year, and I feel like we’re all starting to gain some confidence in closing them out,” said coach Moris. “It’s about guys buying into their roles and believing in each other, and then executing on the floor. I’m hopeful we can keep that momentum going. It’s a good time of the year to be playing well.”

On the following Friday night the Timberwolves traveled to Monticello where they handed the host Ponies a conference loss, turning a 27-35 halftime lead into a 62-33 final.

The Timberwolves, who outscored their opponent 40-12 in the paint and converted 31 Monticello turnovers into 31 points, got a team-high 20 points from Davis, who was 9-of-16 from the field. He also pulled down five rebounds and came away with five steals.

Noah Copsey chipped in 13 points, followed by Brock Bunge with six and Blake Reynolds five. Lane Copsey pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and dished out a team-high three assists

Following this past Monday night’s home game against Highland, the Timberwolves will host Shullsburg Friday evening.