Bailey Stewart
Tyler Smith
FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – Signed, sealed and delivered.
Ranked No. 3 in Class 2A, the Northeastern boys basketball team needed a signature win.
They got one on Saturday night as the Knights beat Class 1A No. 1 Liberty Christian 79-59 in Larry Moore Gymnasium.
“That puts to rest the Seton loss and the Pendleton Heights loss because Liberty Christian beat both of those teams,” said Bailey Stewart, who had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Knights. “We did lose to both of those teams fair and square, but this is a big win for us.”
It also capped a big week for Stewart’s teammate Tyler Smith.
“This is a great signature win,” he said beating the 14-4 Lions from Anderson. “We’ve let two games get away from us. As a team, this is the most complete game we’ve played.”
On a personal note earlier this week, Smith became Northeastern’s all-time assist leader in the Rushville win on Tuesday. On Saturday, he joined the 1,000-point club to become the sixth player in Northeastern history to reach that plateau.
“Getting 1,000 points is one thing, but when you come back and you can win the game, it’s amazing,” Smith said.
In what is becoming a trend for the Knights, they fell behind 7-1 in the early moments of the the contest.
“That team has a chance to win the state in 1A,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said. “For us to come out and get the start that we got, after falling behind early and then being able to apply the press that we do, I was proud of our kids.”
“We were able to contain their runs to four points and six points rather than 10 points and 12 points,” Ross added.
As a result of that success, the Knights quickly erased the deficit and led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.
“I think we’re getting better every game, every day in practice,” Ross said. “I thought we played about 26 minutes of really pretty good basketball. I told them we wouldn’t have won this game if we wouldn’t have played the schedule that we’ve played. When they started to make their run, if you don’t play the games that you’ve played in, being able to fight through some of that, you’re probably not going to win those basketball games.”
The Knights were able to push their advantage to double digits for most of the affair with the Lions only able to close the gap to 59-50 with 5:02 remaining in the final quarter.
“It never felt like it,” a relieved Ross said.
Tyler Smith led the Knights with 29 points to reach 1,018 in his career. He picked up his 1,000th when he hit a pair of free throws at the 2:27 mark of the second period.
Stewart, who transferred to Northeastern from National Trail, is also closing in on the 1,000-point mark in his career with 982.
“I go against Tyler everyday in practice,” Stewart said. “That’s what make me better. I’ve never played against a guy like Tyler.”
Robert Smith finished with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Northeastern and Nate Reynolds was the fourth Knight in double figures with 11.
Liberty Christian won the JV contest 54-23 as Jalen Hillard scored 10 points to lead the Knights.
Northeastern (13-3) has now won three in a row as the Knights prepare for a critical Tri-Eastern Conference match-up at Hagerstown on Thursday. Both teams are unbeaten in conference action with the Tigers (12-5) leading the way at 5-0, while Northeastern is 2-0.
The two teams have already met once this season with the Knights winning 58-52 earlier this month in the championship contest of the Wayne County Tournament.
Box Score
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN (14-4) – Ronny Williams 4 4-5 13, Joshua Tufts 2 0-0 5, Benjamin Cotton 3 1-3 7, Greg Dixon 6 6-8 18, Franklin Nunn 3 5-6 12, Isiah Palmer-Ferron 0 0-2 0, Trajan Dixon 2 0-0 4, Evan Packard 0 0-0 0, Daniel Burko 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Brees 0 0-0 0. Team – 20 16-24 59.
NORTHEASTERN (13-3) – Tyler Smith 10 8-9 29, Bailey Stewart 8 3-4 19, Robert Smith 5 2-4 12, Nate Reynolds 4 3-4 11, DaShawn Hampton 0 1-2 1, Harrison Rice 0 0-0 0, Caleb Mikesell 2 2-4 7, Austin Clay 0 0-0 0, Jalen Hillard 0 0-0 0, Gabe Beatty 0 0-0 0, Alex Reynolds 0 0-0 0. Team – 29 19-27 79.
Liberty Christian 13 28 41 59
Northeastern 19 40 55 79
3-pointers – Liberty Christian 3 (Williams 1, Tufts 1, Nunn 1), Northeastern (T.Smith 1, Mikesell 1). Rebounds – Liberty Christian 34 (Williams 5), Northeastern 40 (R. Smith 10, N. Reynolds 7, Stewart 7). Turnovers – Liberty Christian 15, Northeastern 16. Fouls – Liberty Christian 19, Northeastern 20.
Northeastern 1,000-Point Club
1. Cory Ryan (1995-1999) 1,445
2. Daryl Lane (1967-1970) 1,239
3. Brent Ross (1983-1987) 1,116
4. Cory Ross (1999-2003) 1,106
5. Ryan Kaufman (1998-2002) 1,067
6. Tyler Smith (2012-2015) 1,018