Robert Smith
FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – Friday night turned into a celebration for the Class 2A No. 2 Northeastern boys basketball team.
The four seniors were honored prior to the game and after Northeastern defeated Union City 66-35, they cut down the nets as they claimed their third straight Tri-Eastern Conference title.
“Our team came out and nobody played selfish at all,” Northeastern’s Robert Smith said. “We had so many seniors, and everybody was playing together.”
The biggest moment for Smith was in the final quarter when he along with classmates Bailey Stewart, DaShawn Hampton and Austin Clay came off the floor together as the crowd cheered.
“I walked off, and I saw my little brother, and he was crying,” Robert Smith said of looking at Tyler Smith. “That was probably the best part right there.”
Winning wasn’t bad either after a loss at Connersville earlier this week as the Knights finish the regular season at 19-4 overall and 7-0 in the TEC.
“It was very important,” Robert Smith said. “When you come off a loss, you need a win to bounce back.”
It didn’t take long for the Knights to bounce back after they fell behind early against the Indians (11-11, 2-5).
“That first half, defensively, I don’t know if we could get any better holding them to 11 points,” Northeastern Head Coach Brent Ross said.
Union City led 10-5 after Bailey Hughes scored and followed with a free throw at the 4:16 mark of the opening period.
And then the game was over.
The Knights scored the next 31 points and led 36-10 with 2:19 remaining in the second quarter.
“Credit Northeastern for playing a solid game tonight,” Union City Head Coach Dustin Baldwin said. “They did a great job speeding us up into turnovers and bad shots most of the night.”
“Defensively, we were flat most of the night and they did a great job of creating open shots for one other and really crashed the boards hard,” Baldwin added.
That was the plan for the Knights.
“I was really proud of how we played,” Ross said. “We thought we had to get better as far as getting to the free throw line, getting the ball inside and we had to rebound better. I thought we did all three of those really well.”
Isaac Jefferis
By halftime, Northeastern led 38-13 and the Knights were on their way to a 22nd consecutive TEC victory. The last time Northeastern lost in conference play was to Winchester at the end of the 2012-13 season.
Robert Smith led the Knights with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Nate Reynolds added 17 points. Stewart tossed 13 points and Tyler Smith finished with nine points.
Isaac Jefferis topped Union City with 11 points with Isaac Davison and Bailey Hughes each contributing seven points. Hughes grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Northeastern won the JV contest 58-48 as Jalen Hillard scored 21 points to lead the Knights. Gabe Beatty tossed in 15 points.
The Indians had two players in double digits led by Chase Jefferis with 15 points. Dakota Hanaway added 10.
Both teams begin their sectional journey on Tuesday night as each plays in the second game. Northeastern faces Winchester (14-8) at Hagerstown, while Union City meets Union (1-16) in the Class 1A event at Blue River.
Box Score
UNION CITY (11-11, 2-5) – Isaac Davison 2 1-2 7, Aaron Foster 0 0-0 0, Bailey Hughes 3 1-3 7, Trevor Spence 0 1-4 1, Isaac Jefferis 4 1-2 11, Trevor Thompson 1 3-4 5, Tyler Thornhill 1 0-0 2, Kyler Purdin 1 0-0 2, Chase Jefferis 0 0-0 0, Dakota Hanaway 0 0-0 0. Team – 12 7-15 35.
NORTHEASTERN (19-4, 7-0) – Tyler Smith 3 2-4 9, Bailey Stewart 6 0-0 13, Austin Clay 1 0-0 3, Robert Smith 7 4-5 18, DaShawn Hampton 1 0-0 2, Nate Reynolds 7 0-0 17, Harrison Rice 1 0-0 2, Kaleb Mikesell 1 0-0 2, Jalen Hillard 0 0-0 0, Gabe Beatty 0 0-0 0, Quinton West 0 0-0 0, Alex Reynolds 0 0-0 0. Team – 27 6-9 66.
Union City 10 13 19 35
Northeastern 21 38 55 66
3-pointers – Union City 4 (Davison 2, I.Jefferis 2), Northeastern 6 (N. Reynolds 3, T.Smith 1, Stewart 1, Clay 1). Rebounds – Union City 30 (Hughes 9), Northeastern 38 (R.Smith 15). Turnovers – Union City 18, Northeastern 9. Fouls – Union City 7, Northeastern 13.