Ross held off Edgewood 54-49 in a Southwest Ohio Conference boys’ basketball game Friday night after opening up a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Edgewood (0-5, 0-3 SWOC) scored first in the game and maintained a small lead throughout the first quarter, finishing the first quarter with a 12-11 lead. By halftime, Ross had gained the lead 24-19, led by Brandon Fernandez, who had 13 of his game-high 26 points in the first half. Edgewood was led by Mason Back, who had 9 in the first half on his way to 21 for the game.

The third quarter saw Ross (4-1, 1-1) lengthen the lead to 34-26, but the fourth quarter was a barnburner as Edgewood outscored the Rams 23-20.

Ross got a 3-pointer from Brandon Burns to open the scoring in the quarter and four consecutive free throws from Fernandez as they built a 47-30 lead with 4:10 to go in the game. Those final points came from Fernandez after a steal and a long pass on the other end of the court.

“When it came down to it, Ross made a couple runs — several 6-0 and 8-0-type runs,” Edgewood coach Aaron Horne said.

The lead was still 16 just over a minute later, but Edgewood caught fire, nailing back-to-back treys on consecutive trips down the floor to cut the lead to 49-39. The final 1:19 of the game saw Ross go to the free throw line six times and hitting only 3-of-7 shots, with two of the misses coming on the first of one-and-one situations.

“We need to understand how to close out a game. We were up 17 points,” Ross coach Matt Wilhelm said, looking at the score book showing the final five-point margin. “Edgewood is a very scrappy team. They do not quit. They just keep playing. I’m disappointed how we handled the end of the game. We were getting good looks. Give Edgewood credit. They just kept coming at us.”

While Edgewood did not have the late free throw woes Ross did, it did miss 1-of-2 with 34 seconds remaining in the game that would have cut into the 51-44 Ross lead, then missed several shots from the field, including second looks.

“Our basketball team has to play good for four quarters,” Wilhelm said of his Rams team. “That has not happened this year. It’s my job to see that happens.”