Tyler Smith
FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – Northeastern Head Basketball Coach Brent Ross could finally smile late Tuesday night after the Knights finished off a three-game run to hold the trophy.
The Class 2A No. 3 Knights battled to a 62-56 victory over Union County to win the Northeastern Tournament.
“We played three pretty good teams,” Ross said. “Those teams won five games in this tournament.”
“All three of them played a different style,” Ross continued. “The first one had a big man in the middle, the second had all of the quickness in the world and made us play 32 minutes and these guys (Union County) are just smart and are never out of a game.”
Even though the Knights (7-1) had a double-digit lead at 25-13 late in the second quarter, Ross knew the Patriots (5-4) would be back.
“They had is exactly where they wanted it pace wise and we were in foul trouble,” he said. “I’m proud of how we hung in there to get this championship.”
Ross praised all of his team, but particularly four players.
“Harrison Rice, DaShawn Hampton, and Austin Clay gave us a lot of minutes,” he said. “Alec Sheets in the first half gave us 2-3 valuable minutes.
As a group, those four combined for eight points and 11 rebounds.
Dillon Miller
For Union County Head Coach Mark Detweiler, the contest against a Tri-Eastern Conference and sectional opponent came down to numbers.
“We missed 17 shots in the first half and then we go 6-of-13 from the free throw line in the second half,” Detweiler said. “Those numbers were glaring.”
“The third game in two days,” he added. “Our guys were a little bit tired.”
After falling behind by a dozen points with 2:31 remaining in the first half, Detweiler called a timeout and the Patriots responded to close the gap to 28-22 by halftime.
“We take some good things away from this,” Detweiler said. “It’s what we needed at this point in the year. We’re right there with everybody else. We’re a quality ball club and we can stand toe-to-toe with anybody.”
At the beginning of the third period, Union County kept its rally going and eventually led 29-28 after Dillon Miller scored with 6:46 on the clock.
As it turned out, Northeastern’s Nate Reynolds hit a pair of free throws at 6:34 to put the Knights up for good at 30-29. The Knights led 46-38 at the third stop and they were able maintain the edge the rest of the way.
Tyler Smith survived some issues with fouls to score a game-high 21 points and grab eight rebounds.
“I played him a long time with three fouls,” Ross said. “I told him I need his maturity to step up and handle those situations without getting another foul. He likes to get going and he’s got to understand time and score.”
Robert Smith finished with 14 points for Northeastern and Reynolds tossed in 11.
Miller led the Patriots with 15 points and seven rebounds. Logan Sanford added 14 points, while Preston Scott and Breyden Wicker each had 10 points.
“It was a lot of work,” Detweiler said of his team’s offensive production. “You want to see a team like that, that forced you to do things at a high level.”
“Our screen action needs to get better against a zone,” he continued. “We actually had some good looks, we just need to get the ball in the basket.”
Union County is at Morristown on Saturday, while Northeastern faces Lincoln in the first contest of the Wayne County Tournament at Hagerstown on Thursday, Jan. 7.
Box Score
UNION COUNTY (5-4) – Preston Scott 2 4-7 10, Breyden Wicker 3 4-5 10, Cameron Donovan 1 2-2 4, Logan Sanford 4 2-2 14, Dillon Miller 4 5-7 15, Nevada Lakes 0 1-2 1, Mason Miller 1 0-1 2, Cole Reiboldt 0 0-0 0, Haidyn Lathery 0 0-2 0, Isaiah Spencer 0 0-0 0. Team – 15 18-28 56.
NORTHEASTERN (7-1) – Tyler Smith 8 5-7 21, Bailey Stewart 1 4-6 6, Robert Smith 7 0-0 14, Nate Reynolds 1 8-10 11, Harrison Rice 0 0-0 0, Kaleb Mikesell 1 0-0 2, DaShawn Hampton 3 0-0 6, Austin Clay 0 0-0 0, Alec Sheets 1 0-0 2. Team – 22 17-23 62.
Union County 11 22 38 56
Northeastern 19 28 46 62
3-pointers – Union County 8 (Sanford 4, Scott 2, D. Miller 2), Northeastern 1 (Reynolds 1). Rebounds – Union County 30 (D. Miller 7), Northeastern 28 (T. Smith 8). Turnovers – Union County 13, Northeastern 12. Fouls – Union County 16, Northeastern 22.