Northmor’s Jaxson Wenger battles inside for a lay-up against Patriot Prep on Friday.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
The Northmor boys’ basketball team couldn’t close out their district final contest against Patriot Preparatory Friday night at Ohio Dominican University and wound up dropping a 50-38 decision in overtime.
The Golden Knights led 33-31 with just under four minutes to go in regulation after Grant Bentley hit back-to-back shots to give Northmor the advantage in a back-and-forth game.
Neither team could get anything going on offense over the next couple minutes, but with just over a minute to play, Patriot started putting the Golden Knights on the free throw line.
Northmor missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:16 to play. After getting the ball back after a missed three-pointer by their opponents, they would come up empty on a second one-and-one with 53.8 seconds left. This time, Patriot was able to convert at the offensive end to tie the game.
A turnover would end Northmor’s chances of winning the game in regulation, but their defense was able to keep the score tied and send the game to an extra four-minute period.
Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, those four minutes did not go their way. Patriot scored the first seven points of overtime to take a commanding lead with only 1:41 left. Two baskets by Jaxson Wenger kept Northmor in the game, but they would not get any closer than five down the stretch.
Golden Knight coach Blade Tackett felt his team did everything but get the win in the program’s first appearance in the district finals.
“We felt we executed our gameplan to perfection,” he said. “Our zone worked well, we rebounded well. Our goals going in were that this team will not beat us shooting lay-ups, they will not beat us on the offensive boards, this team will not beat us by turning us over. We had a little bit of that, but for the most part, we executed. The only thing I can ask for is that we have a chance to win in the fourth. We were very close and I’m proud of them for that. Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes, it doesn’t.”
One thing that hurt Northmor was the free throw line, where they were 1-for-5 for the game and 0-for-2 in regulation. Tackett noted that those struggles can’t be blamed on a lack of effort, saying that after a mid-season loss to Mount Gilead, his players have worked hard to improve at the line.
“After Mount Gilead, halfway through the season, every morning, we’ve had about six guys get to the gym at 6:30 a.m. and shoot 100 free throws,” he said. “He (Hunter Fulk) stepped to that line and I had confidence in him and if we did it again, I’d have confidence in him again. I would have had the same confidence in any other of our guys in that situation. Sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. We did our best.”
Until the overtime period, neither team could claim the momentum for any length of time. Fulk opened the game with five straight points to stake Northmor to an early lead. However, Patriot would go on a run to take a 10-8 lead. A three-pointer by Bentley and bucket from Jaxson Wenger would boost the Golden Knights to a 13-12 lead after eight minutes.
Northmor then got baskets from Max Lower, Wenger and Bentley to jump in front 19-12, but didn’t score over the final 5:20 of the second quarter as Patriot rallied to within a 19-18 deficit going into the half.
Patriot scored six straight to jump in front by five early in the third quarter, but a three-pointer by Wenger made it 24-22 and Northmor was able to keep it close going into the fourth. Bentley then gave the Golden Knights and one-point lead with a three-pointer and his following two baskets put the team in a chance to win it late.
While disappointed by the loss, Tackett felt his team didn’t make it easy on Patriot Prep.
“They got to the free throw line to finish it,” he said. “They had some tough lay-ups inside. Nothing that they did was easy. We made them work for everything. I don’t know that they had a shot that wasn’t contested. I really believe that we made them work for everything. That’s exactly what we wanted to do and I think our guys should be proud of that.”
While the team will graduate Lower and his interior presence, they return the rest of their varsity roster, including Bentley, who led the team with 20 points, and Wenger, who tallied 11. That in itself gives Tackett optimism for a potential return trip — especially if his players use their district finals loss as motivation.
“That’s one of those things you put on the whiteboard and don’t erase,” he said. “District runner-up and put the score on there so it’s a reminder every time when we’re asking you to come in before school or asking you to go to shootouts in the summer. Remember this moment and let it motivate us and drive us to get back here next year. And I think it will.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
