Northmor’s Hunter Fulk goes up for two points in his team’s Saturday win over Madison Christian. The win gave the Golden Knights a sectional championship in Division IV.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
After a hard-fought first quarter, the Northmor boys’ basketball team pulled away from visiting Madison Christian to claim a 79-41 win in a Saturday Division IV sectional contest.
In advancing to the district semifinals, the Golden Knights outscored their opponents 48-26 over the middle two periods to pull away in what had been a close game through eight minutes.
“That was a tough team and gritty team and all the credit to Madison Christian for that,” said Tackett. “They have a couple kids that can play and their tough kids and didn’t back down from us. That’s what we needed. We didn’t want to come in here and have a softball and just walk into the second round. Every round of the tournament is going to be difficult and present its own challenges and I’m glad we saw some of those challenges and adversity tonight because I think it made us better.”
Northmor rode four points by Grant Bentley and a three-pointer by Jax Wenger to an early 9-0 lead, but with the score 11-2 in favor of the Golden Knights, they watched their opponents tally nine straight to tie the score with 2:20 left in the opening period.
Northmor would finish the quarter with a flurry, though. Bentley hit from two and Wenger added a three-pointer to give their team a five-point lead going into the second. They would then open the new quarter with a pair of Bryson Keirns free throws and an A.J. Bower three-pointer to go in front by 10.
Leading 26-17 late in the quarter, Northmor was able to finish the half with a 7-2 run sparked by Hunter Fulk’s five points and led 33-19 at the intermission. Tackett praised the play of Fulk, noting that he got a pair of tough inside shots during a time when his team was having issues with finishing those plays.
Bentley would then take over in the third, scoring his team’s first 14 points of what would be a 31-point period. Tackett noted that his senior star had some struggles in the first half and was motivated to improve upon that performance.
“As soon as we got that lob for Grant and he hit a three, I think our next five play calls were for him,” said the coach. “We ran a three-point shot for him twice in a row and he buried both of them. When you see a look in a kid’s eye at halftime and he knows he struggled a bit in the first half and could have finished a couple more lay-ups… But he’s the kind of kid who has the physical and mental toughness to come out and take over a game and that’s exactly what he did.”
Bentley’s 14 straight points all came in the opening 2:20 of the third quarter and extended the Northmor lead to 47-26. A brief run by their opponents cut the Golden Knight lead down to 16 points, but Wenger hit from three to make it a 50-31 game and the locals would then go on a 14-6 run to lead 64-37 going into the final quarter.
Over those eight minutes, they would hold Madison Christian to only four points. Leading 64-39, they would score 10 straight — four by Bentley and two each from Bower, Drew Hammond and Isaac Kincaid — to open up a 35-point lead and lead to the final four minutes to be played under a running clock.
After the game, Tackett had a lot to be happy about, including another sectional title for his players.
“That’s what we talked about in there,” he said. “Winning a championship never gets old. It should be celebrated. If you look at our banner, it’s been done several times before, but not that much. We don’t take these opportunities for granted and we celebrate them every chance we get and I’m proud of our guys for getting two in a row.”
Bentley recorded 34 points and hit four three-pointers to lead all scorers. Wenger also hit double figures with 15 points and Fulk added eight.
With a six-player senior class this year in Bentley, Fulk, Hammond, Logan Caudill, Isaac Black and Keirns, Tackett was pleased they were able to earn a win in the final home game of their careers, adding that this has been a special group of players to be around.
“This is a special group I think will be remembered around here a long time,” he said. “For them to get a chance to go one more time and get a win and show the crowd what their abilities are and why we’ve been thankful for them the last four years, that’s pretty special, too.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
