A packed house anchored by raucous student bodies from both schools saw Ross High School overcome youthful Hamilton 68-55 on Saturday in boys basketball at Ross.

Senior guard Brandon Fernandez and junior guard Blake Ballard combined for 46 points as Ross battered Hamilton in a non-league game.

Ross featured eight seniors and the experience showed drawing four charges, forcing 14 turnovers and winning the physical battle in the first half.

“(Fernandez) had some big games already and we needed some more people to step up and (Ballard) did tonight,” Ross coach Matt Wilhelm said. “We didn’t help ourselves late and we knew Hamilton would make some runs. We need to learn to finish better.”

Ballard had 12 of his team-high 25 points in the first half. Fernandez had 11 of his 21 points in the 2nd quarter when Ross out-scored the Big Blue 23-6 to take a 31-17 halftime lead.

“We switched up our zone at the end of the first (quarter) and I think it gave them some trouble,” Wilhelm said. “We were more active, getting our hands on passes, forcing turnovers and we made some shots.”

Hamilton turned the ball over seven times in the second.

“In the first half, they just took it to us,” Hamilton coach Tim Robinson said. “I questioned our guys at halftime because I thought Ross wanted it more than us. We responded in the second half, but our hole was too big. We played extremely hard in the second half, but give Ross a ton of credit, they just beat us.”

Junior guard Christian Jones kept the Hamilton in the game, scoring 29 points, including five 3-pointers.

The Big Blue closed to within 10 with 4:14 left in the fourth, but Ross was able to close the win out at the foul line.

The Rams were 19-of-30 from the line in the 2nd half while improving to 3-1.

Gus Madden scored eight points and had nine rebounds; Jake Shields scored seven points and nine rebounds for Ross, which hosts Edgewood next Friday.

Marcus Oliver had seven points and five rebounds while Jamil Daniels added five points, eight rebounds for Hamilton.

Hamilton (1-3) travels to Mason next Friday.