Six games into its FCIAC schedule, the Ridgefield High School boys basketball team has yet to lose to a conference foe and has gained more confidence and momentum with each victory.

Yes, the Tigers are on pace to produce a special season and Tuesday night, they showed some reasons why.

Exhibiting strong defensive play, while aggressively crashing the offensive and defensive backboards, Ridgefield registered a convincing 54-33 win over host Greenwich in an FCIAC matchup.

With their fifth straight win, the Tigers raised their record to 7-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 in FCIAC play. The Cardinals’ record stands at 4-5 overall and 4-2 in the FCIAC.

Junior guard James St. Pierre and senior center Brendan McNamara powered the Tigers’ offense. Pierre scored a game-high 18 points, including two 3-pointers, while McNamara added 13 points and was a rebounding force. The Tigers led 12-8 after the first quarter, before heading into halftime with a 26-17 advantage. They opened their lead to 44-27 after three quarters.

“We got a couple of stops and James (St. Pierre) started hitting 3s and that opened lanes for us and got our offense going,” McNamara said. “They were physical, but we get physical play every game. Everyone is giving us their best shot this year.”

Junior center Oliver Milledge scored 11 points, while junior guard Mike Gianopoulos added 10 points for the Cardinals, who had to work hard offensively against the Tigers man-to-man defense.

“They are a really quick team with nice defenders,” Milledge said. “But we beat ourselves in the end. We could have scored off their defense, but we just really struggled with some easy stuff we could have finished on — foul shots, layups.”

Said GHS coach Phil D’Amato: “We shot 45 percent from the line, which of course hurt us. McNamara has a nose for the ball and we, at times, got outworked for offensive rebounds. I remember one possession, they had five rebounds. That can’t happen.”

Ridgefield never trailed in this FCIAC matchup. After Gianopoulos brought the Cardinals to within 10-8, junior Weston Carpenter converted a layup at the buzzer, making it 12-8 after the opening quarter.

St. Pierre’s short jumper extended the Tigers’ edge to 18-10, before GHS closed to within 18-15 on Milledge’s layp at the 5:23 mark of the second quarter. Ridgefield ended the first half strong, scoring six straight points on layups from Cameron Andry, St. Pierre and McNamara to take a 26-17 lead.

An 10-0 run over a three-minute span during the third quarter upped the Tigers advantage to 41-21. McNamara scored five points during the spurt, four of which came off putbacks.

“It all starts with our defense,” Ridgefield coach Andrew McClellan said. “In the first half, we played really solid defense and they made some tough shots. The second half of the third quarter we turned up the heat a little bit more and took away what they wanted to do. We got stops, which led right to our offense.”

Said D’Amato: “Offensively, it was tough for us to get going. The shots weren’t falling and we missed a couple of layups, which limited us.

Ridgefield held a 39-21 rebounding advantage on the Cardinals.

“I thought we met their physicality and we brought a lot of energy,” McClellan said. “That helped us get a lead.”

Said St. Pierre, who had 10 second-half points: “We executed coach’s game plan and ran our plays to perfection and as a result, we got a lot of good shots. I think we are really playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

Senior forward Matt Robins had seven points for Greenwich, while senior guard Alex Price scored seven points for the victors.

dfierro@greenwichtime.com; 203-625-4423

RIDGEFIELD 54, GREENWICH 33

RIDGEFIELD 12 14 18 10 — 54

GREENWICH 8 9 10 6 — 33

RIDGEFIELD (54)

Christopher Knachel 2 1-2 5; Brendan McNamara 3 6-7 13; Jackson Mitchell 2 1-1 5; Alex Price 3 0-1 7; James St. Pierre 7 2-2 18; Ryan Malley 1 0-0 2; Weston Carpenter 1 0-0 2; Cameron Andry 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 10-13 54.

GREENWICH (33)

Mekhi Samb 0 0-4 0; Elias Gianopoulos 2 3-7 8; Matt Robins 1 5-6 7; Jackson Trimmer 1 0-1 2; Billy Nail 2 1-2 5; Oliver Milledge 5 1-2 11. Totals: 11 10-22 33.

3-pointers: R — St. Pierre 2, McNamara, Price; G — Gianopoulos

Records: Ridgefield 7-2; Greenwich 4-5