HAGERSTOWN, Ind. – The Northeastern boys basketball team won its fourth straight Class 2A sectional title on Saturday with a 54-41 victory over Union County.
“It’s special,” Northeastern coach Brent Ross said. “These kids know what they are playing for. They were more focused on trying to win a sectional championship.”
The No. 4 Knights (21-5) advance to face No. 12 Cloverdale (21-6) in next Saturday’s regional at Greenfield. Cloverdale moved on with a 74-61 over Monrovia. Northeastern plays the opener at 10 a.m., while No. 10 Shenandoah (20-4) and Heritage Christian (15-9) compete in the second contest at noon. The regional championship contest is at 8 p.m.
“This is a great achievement for our program,” said Northestern’s Tyler Smith, who scored a game-high 26 points as he led the Knights with nine rebounds.
“Union County is a very tough team,” Smith added. “They played us down to the wire.”
The Patriots led 15-11 after one period and 24-18 by the intermission.
“(Union County coach) Mark (Detweiler) is one of the best coaches around,” Ross said. “He had his team ready.”
Northeastern was able to answer as the Knights led 35-31 at the end of the third.
“We made a couple of adjustments in the second half,” Ross said. “We had to go man-to-man to speed them up a little bit. We play better when we play fast.”
Cameron Donovan led the Patriots with 13 points and eight rebounds.
“We left some points out there in the first half,” Detweiler said. “When things are going well you need to take advantage.”
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some turnovers and some careless passing,” Detweiler continued. “Sometimes you just tip your hat to your opponent.”
Logan Sanford was the only other player in double digits as he finished with 10 points for the Patriots (13-13). Mason Miller added nine points, including a buzzer beater at the end of the first periods.
“It was a good tournament run and the guys played well,” Detweiler said. “You just can’t have a bad quarter against a good team.”
Jalen Hillard had six points for Northeastern, while Nate Reynolds and Kaleb Mikesell added five each.
Box score
UNION COUNTY (13-13) – Cameron Sanford 0 0-1 0, Cameron Donovan 6 1-4 13, Mason Miller 3 1-1 9, Logan Sanford 2 5-5 10, Derek Dearth 3 1-2 7, Preston Scott 0 2-2 2, Mook Shepler 0 0-0 0, Joey Weller 0 0-0 0, Trevor Rieboldt 0 0-0 0, Luke Haas 0 0-0 0, Leighton Schulte 0 0-0 0. Team – 14 10-15 41.
NORTHEASTERN (21-5) – Tyler Smith 8 10-14 26, Kaleb Mikesell 2 1-1 5, Nate Reynolds 2 0-0 5, Harrison Rice 1 2-4 4, Jordan Stolle 1 0-0 2, Freeman Brou 1 0-0 2, Jalen Hillard 2 0-0 6, Alex Reynolds 2 0-0 4, Quantrell Gammon 0 0-0 0, Cole Mikesell 0 0-0 0, Blake Hancock 0 0-0 0, Caylor Fisher 0 0-0 0. Team – 19 13-19 54.
Union County 15 24 31 41
Northeastern 11 18 35 54
3-pointers – Union County 3 (Miller 2, L. Sanford), Northeastern 3 (Hillard 2, N. Reynolds). Rebounds – Union County 28 (Donovan 8), Northeastern 33 (Smith 9, N. Reynolds 7, Rice 6). Turnovers – Union County 17, Northeastern 12. Fouls – Union County 22, Northeastern 16. Fouled out – None.