Northeastern’s Freeman Brou
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Northeastern boys basketball team survived a rally by Winchester on Tuesday as the Knights defeated the Golden Falcons 49-41 to advance the semifinals of the Class 2A Hagerstown Sectional.
“I think are kids are getting healthy,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said. “I still didn’t think we played with the intensity and quickness that we had three weeks ago, but it’s getting better.”
Northeastern (14-10) plays Centerville (11-12) in the sectional semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Union County (18-6) defeated Lincoln on Tuesday 61-39 to move on to face Hagerstown (15-7) in Friday’s opener in a battle of Tri-Eastern Conference co-champions at 6 p.m. Friday’s winners square off for the championship on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, the Knights led 22-9 late in the second quarter before the Golden Falcons closed the gap to 22-13 by halftime.
At the end of the third period, the game was tied 30-30.
“We really had to fight back in that second half, but we used a lot of energy,” Winchester Head Coach Dustin Baldwin said. “Credit Northeastern, they responded to our effort and intensity at the start of the third quarter.”
The Knights scored the first six points of the final period to take a 36-30 lead to gain an edge before Winchester’s Lukas Mills picked a pair of baskets to make it 36-34.
At that point, Northeastern’s Freeman Brou hit a trey and scored again to put the Knights on top 41-34 with 3:58 remaining.
“If he catches the ball in a position and an angle that he likes, he’s pretty hard to stop,” Ross said. “We talked about that a little bit because he was letting himself get shoved out a little bit and not in a position he likes to work on the floor. He had a great game.”
Brou finished the 23 points and eight rebounds.
Jalen Hillard added nine points, three assists and three steals.
Carter Lumpkin tossed in seven points with four assists.
The Golden Falcons (7-14) had confidence from a 50-45 recent victory over the Knights.
“We came out with pretty much the same game plan defensively,” Baldwin said. “We had some good stands and some breakdowns, but offensively we were cold and didn’t get a lot going.”
Isaiah Jordan-Miller had 12 points and nine rebounds for Winchester.
Mills added 11 points, while Trey Graft and Boo Enis contributed six points each.
Ross praised Hillard, Lumpkin, Cole Mikesell and Kolden Vanlandingham for their defense.
“Those four worked their tails off guarding those guys,” he said.