Freeman Brou
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – Northeastern’s multiple streaks in boys basketball are still alive and well.
“We have focused on our streaks and wanted to keep them going,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said. “We’ve worked extremely hard.”
The Knights advanced to Saturday’s championship game of the Wayne County Tournament with a 57-51 victory over Hagerstown on Thursday.
Looking for a fifth straight county title, Northeastern (7-4) will meet the winner of Friday’s game between Centerville (3-7) and Lincoln (3-6) at 8 p.m.
“We’re starting to get our legs,” Ross said. “The style we play up and down the floor, you’ve got to have legs.”
Thursday’s victory was the 48th consecutive win for the Knights against a Tri-Eastern Conference foe and 12th in a row over the Tigers.
Northeastern built an 18-10 advantage after the first quarter.
“You are not going to beat a good team when you turn the ball over eight times in the first quarter,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “We have trouble scoring against teams that guard us.”
The Knights led a 30-17 by the intermission.
“We’re still building for the sectional,” Jones said. “I have to remind myself that we have players that don’t have as much varsity experience as some of the other guys. A lot of the mistakes we made tonight were a result of that.”
The Tigers were able to close the gap to 40-32 by the end of the third frame before they continued to rally in the final stanza.
“It’s a game of runs and we were able to have the last one.” Ross said.
With the Knights leading 45-34 at the 5:58 mark of the fourth quarter, Hagerstown went on a 12-2 run to make it 47-46 with 2:45 left to play. Unfortunately for the Tigers that was as close as they could get the rest of the way.
Freeman Brou led the Knights with 13 points and five rebounds.
Jalen Hillard tossed in 12 points and Alex Reynolds finished with 10.
For the Tigers (6-4), Cody Swimm led the way with 19 points.
Noah Dale had 10 points and Trent Weiss nine. Jalen Oliver had five points and six rebounds.