FREDERICKTOWN – For a team that has averaged 65.8 points per game over its first five, the Fredericktown boys basketball team used its defense to escape with a 37-34 victory over Northmor on Tuesday, Dec. 23, in Fredericktown.
Fredericktown’s Kaid Carpenter knocked the ball away from Northmor’s Kooper Keen as he positioned himself for a game-tying 3-pointer on the left wing. Keen dove on the ground, scooped up the ball and flung up a last-ditch shot from his back that fell well short, and the Freddies (6-0, 5-0) held on for the win to stay unbeaten.
“They forced our hand (and) we had to execute,” Fredericktown coach Derek Dibling said. “We had to make to free throws, we had to get the ball inbounds, we had to defend — just little things like that.
“You have to defend and not give up a 3 there at the end. The kids did a great job reading and being in the right spots. We haven’t been in those spots a ton (this season), so I give our guys credit for digging in really when we needed to. It was a good win.”
Caleb Sheriff had 14 points, four rebounds and three steals; and Lincoln Cunningham added 11 points, seven rebounds and three thefts to lead the Freddies.
“It was a physical fight tonight,” Sheriff said. “That 1-3-1 they ran really slowed us down and we weren’t expecting it, to be honest. It was just a defensive, physical battle out there for everybody.”
Carpenter, Ty Hatfield and Thomas Caputo were also solid for Fredericktown. Hatfield had nine points and three boards, Caputo had four steals and a pair of assists, and Carpenter had six rebounds.
The Freddie defense turned into offense on their first three baskets. Three steals — two by Cunningham and one by Caputo — led to a pair of Cunningham baskets sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Hatfield to stake Fredericktown to a 7-0 lead. The Freddies never trailed, though the Golden Knights pulled within one on five occasions, including 35-34 on a pair of Gavin Miller free throws that were set up by his own steal with just under a minute remaining.
But a Thomas Caputo steal turned into a pair of Sheriff free throws, and the Knights never got a shot off to tie — only a contested Logan Mariotti 2-pointer that was knocked out of bounds to the Freddies.
Mariotti stole the inbound pass with about six seconds left to set up the final play.
“(That was) not our best effort,” Dibling said. “We took some shots that were uncharacteristic and we turned the ball over, which — again — is uncharacteristic. We just didn’t play our best basketball.
“Northmor did a great job of mixing it up. Their length really bothered us at times. We just gotta be better.”
“We knew we had length,” Northmor coach Blade Tackett said. “We knew (at some point) this year that we wanted to trap or to get us in a defense that really utilizes our length. We know our guys are great defensively, so we thought a 1-3-1 is going to utilize our length. It motivates our guys, for whatever reason. It’s a defense they enjoy running.”
Northmor kept itself in close on the boards as well, outrebounding Fredericktown 38-26. Keen led the Knights with eight points, 14 boards and a pair of steals. Graesin Cass had seven points and a pair of steals, Max Lower had seven points and six rebounds, and Miller had seven rebounds and two steals to go with three points.
