The Riverland men’s basketball team had to hang on by the skin of their teeth to walk away with an 80-77 win over Ridgewater (6-18 overall, 0-10 MCAC South) in its last home game of the season in Riverland Gym Wednesday.

RCC led 70-57 late in the second half, but Ridgewater rallied to pull within 79-77 with 34.8 seconds left. After the Blue Devils missed two of three free throws, Ridgewater’s Neil Helgeson got off a running three-pointer at the buzzer that hit the rim twice before falling to the ground.

“When he threw up that last shot, I thought for sure it was going in,” RCC head coach Scott Koenigs said. “It has all year.”

RCC (11-12 overall, 3-7 MCAC South) is now 2-5 in games decided by three points or less.

RCC, which is eliminated from postseason contention, got over half of its offense from the tandem of Zach Bunch and Denzel Smith as the duo combined for 44 points on 19-of-32 shooting.

“The press (in the second half) did it for us and everybody stepped up,” said Bunch, who had 22 points, six assists and four rebounds. “We’re all just playing hard. All of these teams are going to look at us as an easy win, but we’re playing for pride and we’ve gotta show up.”The Blue Devils trailed 35-33 at the half, but they scored the first six points of the second half. They pushed their lead even further when Andrew Kaiser hit a three to make it 52-48 and Jordan Osberg came up with a steal and a three-point play just seven seconds later to make it 55-48.

“We didn’t come to play in the first half,” Koenigs said. “They packed in their zone and made us shoot, which is a great strategy. Everyone knows we’re a slashing team and we don’t shoot very well.”

RCC hit just 5-of-27 from three-point land.

Ridgewater 35 42 — 77

RCC 33 47 — 80

RCC scoring: Denzel Smith, 22; Zach Bunch, 22; Jordan Osberg, 14; Marcus Ratliff, 7; Andrew Kaiser, 6; Taylor Morgan, 4; Keith Thames, 3; Cody Meyer, 2; field goals: 47 percent (33-for-71); three-pointers: 19 percent (5-for-27); free throws: 53 percent (9-for-17); rebounds: 42 (Smith, 10)