After two tough games with LaFayette during the regular season, the Ridgeland boys’ basketball team expected nothing less when the teams met again Friday night.

And the Panthers got exactly what they expected in the Region 6-AAA North semifinals at Ridgeland.

Fourth-seeded LaFayette battled the No. 1 Panthers for three and a half quarters, but Ridgeland pulled away in the final four minutes for a 70-60 victory and a spot in tonight’s championship game.

“We knew they would play us tough,” Panthers coach Chris Edge said. “It’s always like that. They come out and battle against us.”

After overcoming an early seven-point deficit to take their first lead with 1:20 left in the opening period, the Ramblers traded leads with Ridgeland throughout much of the next two quarters. The first period ended tied at 21, and although the Panthers took a five-point advantage into halftime, Diaunte McSears and Tyler Burse combined for 12 third-quarter points to get LaFayette back in it.

“It’s been like that every game this year,” Edge said. “We’d get a little ahead, and then they’d make a run. Then they’d go up a little and we’d come back. I feel like our bench did a great job. They gave us some good minutes so we could give our starters a rest, and I think that paid dividends in the fourth quarter.”

LaFayette led 50-47 with 2:08 left in the third period before an 8-0 run put Ridgeland back on top, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Derrick Sanders helped the Panthers match their biggest lead of the game at 63-56 midway through the final quarter. The Ramblers got within 63-60 on another basket from McSears with 4:05 remaining, but two consecutive putbacks by Dewaun Harrison, followed by his free throw, helped Ridgeland seal the win.

The Panthers (24-2) will play for the championship tonight at 8:30 against Ringgold, which advanced with a semifinal win over Southeast Whitfield. The girls’ championship game at 7 will feature top-seeded Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, which advanced with a 73-36 semifinal win over Ringgold, and No. 3 LaFayette, which beat Southeast Whitfield in its semifinal.

The top three teams in the sub-region advance to next week’s Region 6 tournament at Allatoona.

“This is important,” Edge said. “One of our goals is to win the sub-region, and we’re one game away from being able to do that.”

Harrison led the Panthers with 20 points, while Sanders followed with 17 and David Alexander scored 12. Burse scored 25 for LaFayette, and McSears had 19.