Northmor picks up win

Mount Gilead’s boys’ basketball got off to a fast start at KMAC-leading Northmor Wednesday night, taking an early 7-2 lead, holding an advantage for most the first quarter and exiting it tied with the Golden Knights at 17.

The rest of the game was all Northmor. The home team outscored their guests 15-5 in the second period, 27-12 in the third and 12-6 in the fourth in picking up a 72-40 decision that improved them to 11-4, 7-1 in league play. The Indians fall to 3-9, 1-6.

Golden Knight coach Blade Tackett gave credit to the Indians for keeping his team off-balanced in the early going.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Mount Gilead because they came out and did what we like to do, which is switch up defenses and keep the offense kind of on their heels,” he said. “The one thing we did well in the first quarter was we shot well, so that kept us hanging around and allowed us to keep it tied.”

Two free throws and a three-pointer by Rowan Fitzpatrick helped MG take a 7-2 lead after two minutes have elapsed. Northmor would rally to take an 11-9 lead, but a three-pointer by Hayden Somerlot and a Cameron Vickers bucket moved MG back in front by three. The Indians would lead 17-14, but Jax Wenger finished the period with a three that tied things up heading into the second.

“I thought our defense was excellent in the first quarter,” said Mount Gilead coach Nathan Davis. “We worked on that certain defense a while now; it’s getting better. We put them in a position we wanted them in and I thought we played pretty hard and pretty good in the first quarter.”

Mount Gilead would be held to just five points in the second quarter, though, allowing their opponents to forge ahead. Wenger hit a pair of three-pointers in the period and Isaac Black added five points to lead Northmor to a 32-22 lead at the break.

“Then, the second quarter, we did what we did against Centerburg (the previous Saturday), which is we’re going to try to amp up the pressure, trap and get steals so we can beat them down the floor and get lay-ups and threes in transition instead of in half-court because the half-court stuff wasn’t working.”

After the game, Davis noted his team was still within striking range, facing only a 10-point deficit. Unfortunately for the Indians, Northmor wasted no time in widening the gap between the two teams. Grant Bentley scored five points and Drew Hammond added a basket in the first minute of the quarter to make it a 39-22.

Mount Gilead would get threes from Somerlot and Carson Trainer to go with buckets from Vickers and Gage Baker and would cut their deficit to a 43-32 margin, but their opponents finished the period with a 16-2 run in which Hunter Fulk scored nine points and Wenger picked up the other seven.

“The third quarter didn’t go as planned,” said Davis. “They came out shooting hot, they increased their defense and put pressure on us. We made a couple turnovers in the third quarter and allowed them to score.”

Tackett, on the other hand, loved how his team used the opening plays of the third quarter to set the stage for a 27-point period.

“It was exactly how you want to start the third quarter,” he said. “It’s something we talk about at halftime — they probably get sick of me every single game — but these first five minutes are key. They could determine the rest of the game. Mount Gilead comes out and gets that start, we’re in a dog fight the rest of the game. We were lucky enough to have it go our way and that’s every coach’s dream third quarter performance.”

Northmor would then get three-pointers from Logan Caudill and Bentley to kick off a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter and push the team’s lead to 35 points, causing the final 6:27 of the contest to be played under a running clock.

While disappointed in the result, Davis felt that his team played hard in the loss.

“We played hard tonight,” he said. “Did the game go our way? No, but I thought our team played hard tonight. When you’re young and inexperienced, all you can do is put out effort and we have to go play and go from there. I thought our team played hard tonight and we go from there.”

Both Fitzpatrick and Somerlot scored eight points to lead the MG effort. Northmor got 20 from both Bentley and Fulk — with Bentley connecting on three three-pointers — while Wenger hit four times from long-range in scoring 18.

Thanks to a recent winning streak in KMAC play, Northmor has moved back into sole possession of first place. However, Tackett warns that maintaining an advantage in a very competitive conference won’t be an easy task.

“We all know each other so well,” he said. “All the kids know each other; we all know each others’ strengths and weaknesses. We were on our heels (against Centerburg) on Saturday. It very well could be a three-way tie right now. You never know what could happen. You can’t take any game in this conference for granted. I think we’re going to get everyone’s best shot, so we’ve got to prepare and plan the same way we do for every team, regardless of where they’re at in the conference.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS