Northmor junior Jax Wenger led his team in scoring Friday night in their district final contest against Northside Christian.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
A rough night offensively ended Northmor’s boys’ basketball season in the Division IV district finals for the second straight year on Friday night.
Northmor couldn’t get things going until the fourth quarter in their contest against Northside Christian, which was hosted by Ohio Dominican University, and the end result was a 62-46 loss that ended the Golden Knight season with an 18-7 record.
“I think when that’s the case, it’s a little bit easier of a pill to swallow,” said head coach Blade Tackett after the game. “Like last year, when it’s right there in your grasp and slips out right at the last moment. Here, while it’s tough, what can you do? I thought we got great shots. I thought we had great looks early and I thought we defended them tough in the first quarter. When we score early on, we can get our defense set up, but when you’re constantly missing like that and you’re defending in transition, now you have guys who aren’t on their match-ups or picking them up or they get loose in transition a couple times. It didn’t hurt us too bad early on, but then the flood gates opened.”
Northmor got out to a good start, getting a bucket from Drew Hammond and a three-pointer by Grant Bentley to open up a 5-0 lead two minutes into the opening period, but the team would then go 4:30 with no offense, allowing Northside to take the lead at 8-5.
A basket by Jax Wenger brought the team within one, but Northside finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to lead 13-7. They would extend their advantage in the second quarter, as guard Josh Cook’s eight points in that period equaled Northmor’s total output over those eight minutes. Five of those points came in the final two minutes of the quarter, helping to turn a 24-15 game into a 16-point Golden Knight deficit going into the half.
The locals would continue to struggle to generate offense in the third quarter. While Bentley scored four points in the period and Wenger added three, the rest of the team would not be able to put the ball through the net. Northside would get eight more points by Cook, as the Lions extended their advantage to a 44-22 count.
The Golden Knights were able to have their most success in the fourth quarter, as they scored 24 of their 46 points over that eight-minute stretch. However, they weren’t able to cut into the Northside advantage until their opponents had pushed their lead to 24 late in the game. Over the final 1:10, Northmor closed the contest on a 10-2 run sparked by six points from Cole Cuffman and four by Bo Landin.
After the game, Tackett noted that while his team will miss its large senior class — Bentley, Hunter Fulk, Hammond, Logan Caudill, Isaac Black and Bryson Keirns — they have a good amount of talent returning and will be able to maintain high expectations for the program.
“We’ve got a special group behind them,” he said. “We’ve obviously got a really good junior class that’s very similar to this senior class in terms of the types of kids they are and the talent on the basketball floor. We’ve got a JV team with 16 wins and a freshman team with a winning record and an eighth grade team with a winning record. In terms of the program, the future’s bright and we’re excited for it.”
Wenger, one of those juniors, led Northmor with 16 points. Bentley added eight.
Tackett expressed a lot of gratitude to his seniors for the huge role they played in turning the fortunes of the Northmor program around during their time with it.
“The message from me was just, ‘thank you’,” he said. “When the seniors were freshmen, we had 18 losses and because of the time they put in and the way they bought in, we went from 18 losses to 18 wins. That’s not because of me or coach (Justin) Mattix, but because we have guys who put the time in and were dedicated and bought in. I think they’ve established a certain type of basketball and a certain type of way we do things. They’ve left a legacy on this program for sure and I’m thankful for them for that.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
