It was a tough night shooting for the Northmor boys' basketball team, and for the second year in a row, the Golden Knights took a loss in the District Finals, falling 62-46 to Northside Christian on March 8.
“I think the key of the game was pretty simple: We just were not scoring at a high percentage, or even anywhere close to our season averages,” Coach Blade Tackett said. “Looking at the box score, we turned them over more. They shot better from two, three, and from free throws. Sometimes that's just the way the game goes. I don't believe they were the better team, but they were certainly better on Friday night.”
The Golden Knights went on a 5-0 run to start the game, as Drew Hammond hit a layup and Grant Bentley drained a step back three off an assist by Jax Wenger. Northside then went on a 8-0 run of their own, as they were shooting lights out and the Golden Knights had shots rimming out. With 1:31 on the clock, Wenger took an inbound pass from Hammond for a layup to make it 8-7. Northside went on to score the next five points in quarter, making it 13-7 at the end of one quarter.
The Lions picked up where they left off with a three by #11 to start the second quarter, and they ended up outscoring the Golden Knights 18-8 in the quarter to go up 31-15 at halftime. The Golden Knights were struggling to find their shot, and when they were getting to the line they had trouble making foul shots.
By the 3:55 mark in the third quarter, Northside was up 40-19 as they were making shots all over the floor at a rapid rate. Northmor called timeout and then Wenger recorded a steal. He dished it to Bentley who hit a layup in traffic to make it a 41-21 game. Northside led 44-22 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Northmor’s offense woke up a bit with a 24 point showing. However, many of these points came at the end of the game with the victory out of reach. Northside put up 18 points and were able to hold on for the big win to move onto the Regional Semifinals and become back-to-back district champions.
“The loss was tough, but knowing that it simply came down to scoring makes it easier,” Tackett said. “The effort was there. While their defense was good, I don't believe it intimidated our team at all. We got great looks all night, we just couldn't put it through.”
Northmor shot only 27% with 14% from three, and struggled mightily at the foul line at 47%. The Lions had a great day beyond that arc at 50%, shooting 45% overall from the floor. They also shot 71% from the charity stripe. Northside also led 40-34 in boards, 11-7 in assists and had the game’s only block. Northmor did have an 11-3 steals advantage.
Northside was led by Josh Cook, who had 23 points that included five threes.
The Golden Knights were led by Wenger, who had 16 points, seven boards, three assists and three steals. Bentley had eight points, four rebounds and a steal. Cuffman had six points on 3-for-4 shooting, and had two assists, two rebounds and a steal. Bo Landin had four points, Bryson Keirns and Hunter Fulk each had three points, and Isaac Black rounded out the scoring with two points.
It was a huge season for the Golden Knights, who won the KMAC title and were district runners up for the second straight season. Northmor will be losing Grant Bentley, who was this year’s KMAC player of the year and the conference’s leading scorer. They also lose solid contributors in Fulk, Black, Keirns, Hammond and Logan Caudill.
However, they bring back a strong core that is led by first team All-KMAC player Jax Wenger. There are other key players who will also be back next year, which gives them a solid nucleus to work with.
“I think we will reflect positively on this season and on these seniors,” Tackett said. “We won two championships and made it back to districts, something no other Northmor team as even done once. Our future is bright as plenty of guys got great experience this year. I know that Jax Wenger, AJ Bower, Cole Cuffman, Isaac Kincaid, Trevor Black, Trevor Brubaker, and Bo Landin are all itching to have bigger roles next year. Much like our seniors this year, our kids coming up are both talented, hard working, and fun kids to be around.”
In four years the team went from 18 losses to 18 wins, and with the KMAC Coach of the Year Tackett at the helm, they hope to reload and continue this trend.
“Over the last four years, our seniors have established a type of expectation that it takes to be in our program and we have the players that will live up to those expectations,” Tackett said. “With the new format of divisions, who knows what we can accomplish next year but I know we have the kids that will put in the time over the next 8 months.”
