For nine Ross seniors, Friday night marked the last time they would take the floor at Ross High School.

Talawanda tried to make it interesting, but the Rams used an aggressive defense and dominated on the boards to close the regular season 18-4 overall and 12-2 in the Southwestern Ohio Conference with a 66-50 win.

The Rams forced 24 Talawanda turnovers and claimed a 38-16 advantage on the boards while harassing the Braves into 15-of-45 shooting on the night, including 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

Ross led by as many as 17 in the third quarter, the last time 45-28 on four straight points by Blake Ballard with 2:06 left in the third, but the Braves (4-17, 4-10) came storming back to make a game of it.

A pair of free throws by Colton Adams cut the deficit to 47-37 with 7:21 left, but Brandon Fernandez took over. The senior scored seven of his 22 points over a 30-second span to push the lead back to 57-39 with 5:41 left.

Talawanda got as close as 12, but never broke into single digits again.

The teams swapped baskets early before Ross took the lead for good on a trey by senior Derek Teets. Fernandez followed with a short jumper in the lane for his 532nd point of the season, setting a Rams single-season scoring record, as Ross turned a 4-4 game into a 19-7 lead after the first quarter.

Talawanda’s Austin Davidson opened the second quarter with a steal and a two-handed slam to get the Braves’ crowd into it and spark a quick 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 21-14.

But Josh Oaks answered with a 4-0 run of his own to push the lead back to double digits. The Braves got as close as nine twice the rest of the half, but Ross pushed the lead to 31-20 at the break.

Ballard added 10 for the Rams as they placed nine players in the scoring column. Talawanda was led by Davidson with 15.