Northeastern’s Kolden Vanlandingham. Photo by Ryan Tincher.
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – Execution and a little bit extra helped the Northeastern boys basketball team on Friday as the Knights earned a chance to play for their fifth straight Class 2A sectional title.
“We put a game plan together and followed it to a T,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said after the Knights defeated Centerville 49-31 in the semifinals of the Hagerstown Sectional.
Avenging an earlier loss to Centerville in the Wayne County Tournament, the Knights (15-10) will now face Tri-Eastern Conference co-champ Union County (19-6) in a rematch of last year’s finale on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Patriots beat Hagerstown 65-46 in the other semifinal.
“We had a little bit extra,” Ross said of his team’s motivation on Friday. “That’s what worries me about beating Union County the first time. They’re going to have a little bit extra for us.”
Northeastern defeated Union County 65-47 in Fountain City on Feb. 9. Adding to that is Northeastern has ended Union County’s season in the sectional the last four years including twice in the title affair.
“We’ve got to come out hungry and be ready,” Ross said.
Which is what the Knights did on Friday night as they led 12-2 at the first stop and then 18-2 in the second period after Alex Reynolds scored with 5:22 left.
“It was one of those nights,” Centerville Head Coach Seve Beach said. “Their defensive pressure was more than I had seen this year.”
“That’s part of it, but I still thought we executed things and we got shots,” Beach added. “We just had trouble scoring. Our defensive effort was there.”
Northeastern eventually led 28-16 by halftime and 37-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Freshman Kolden Vanlandingham led the Knights with career-high 20 points.
“He takes what the defense gives him,” Ross said. “He’s offensive minded and you can’t teach that.”
The Knights were defensive minded as they looked to stop Centerville’s Justin DuPree and Michael Brewer.
“We tried to keep them for getting the ball in the half-court and make them work,” Ross said. “When they made their runs it was DuPree. You’re not going to hold a kid with his talent down.”
DuPree led the Bulldogs with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
“He competed and rebounded like he has all year,” Beach said.
It wasn’t enough as Northeastern’s Cole Mikesell and Jalen Hillard spent most of the contest following DuPree and Brewer.
“Those two kids have played some great defense two games in a row,” Ross said.
For the Knights, Freeman Brou added nine points with a team-high nine rebounds.
Carter Lumpkin tossed in nine points and Reynolds contributed seven.
Dante Torres scored nine points for the Bulldogs, while Kody Witham had five.
Friday marked the final game for DuPree, Brewer, Witham, Tommy Fordonski and Zach Montour as the Bulldogs finished the season 11-13.
“I can not be more proud of the five seniors,” Beach said. “I love the kids. They battled, it just wasn’t our night.”