NorthWood Boys Basketball: 3A No. 4 Panthers Run Out To 57-35 Win At Triton
BOURBON — At times, Friday night’s boys basketball game between Triton and NorthWood looked like a study in contrasts — the host Trojans trying to play a deliberate half court game and the Panthers looking to turn up the tempo in the full court.
Triton hung around for about a quarter, but in the end, Class 3A, No. 4 NorthWood’s pacing won out as the Panthers used a 24-5 second period to grab a 42-15 halftime cushion, then built to leads of nearly 30 points in the third stanza before holding steady for a 57-35 win at the Trojan Trench.
“They lost a lot last year kind of like us, and they look really good,” said Triton coach Jason Groves. “They play well together. They’re good defensively. They’re good offensively. They share the ball. They get up the court — sometimes they were up the court before we could even see what was going on. Just really impressed with them.”
“I felt our players brought great energy tonight, especially early,” said NorthWood head coach Aaron Wolfe. “I think we want to play with good pace, but we also want to be smart and I thought our guys made some good decisions in the first half. We had ourselves with 23 baskets and 20 assists so I was proud of how we shared the basketball tonight, and I thought it resulted in good shots.”
The Panthers’ unselfish play yielded 20 assists — led by Caleb Glick’s and Kaden Gongwer’s four apiece — and NorthWood (3-0) converted at a 23-of-40 (57.5 percent) clip from the floor in Bourbon, including a 9-of-12 conversion rate during the lopsided second stanza. Three players finished in double figures for the visitors as Gongwer and Caleb Lung put up 14 points each, and senior reserve Luke Holland tallied 10 points.
“I feel our scoring is going to be by committee this year, and I felt those guys were the recipients of some guys passing the ball well and them taking good shots,” said Wolfe of his top three scorers Friday. “I think it’s going to be a team on any given night that we’re going to have guys capable of scoring the basketball.”
“Looking at what they did, they didn’t miss many shots. It was, I guess, because of their unselfishness,” Groves said. “They shared the ball. They passed the ball. They either got a layup or somebody would penetrate and kick and got an open 3. There were no bad shots; everything was very efficient for them. Give them a lot of credit. Obviously we’ve got to get better defensively, but at the same time they’re a good basketball team.”
It wasn’t only crisp passing and heads-up play that allowed the Panthers to score at their ultra-efficient clip.
The visitors capitalized on their height and length advantages to create 15 turnovers by Triton (0-3), which they converted into 21 points off turnovers. And NorthWood doubled up the Trojans on the boards with a full 30-15 rebounding advantage, which the Panthers were able to translate into numerous outlet passes and even more transition buckets Friday.
“I felt that our guys did a nice job of blocking out, and even our guards were able to rebound at times, which is always helpful. I was proud of our effort. I thought that was a step forward for us tonight,” Wolfe said.
“They’re super long, and that’s one area we struggle. We’re not very big this year,” explained Groves. “I think our biggest man is Dylan (Hensley) — about 6’2” and not super long, either. Their length really got to us tonight on both ends. I felt like against our zone, they were able to pass over it and then when that ball was up for grabs they were able to get it and go. We were just two steps behind.”
Triton did pick up the pace significantly after the intermission, outscoring their guests 12-9 in the third period and 20-15 over the second half. The effort was ultimately too little, too late with Wolfe already making mass substitutions midway through the third stanza, but it was a step in the right direction for the Trojans.
“Our kids kept playing, and the second half I thought our kids came out and actually executed. I told them after the game I noticed things the second half. It looked like a practice, some of the stuff we worked on,” said Groves. “The first half it wasn’t like that. The first half I didn’t recognize what we were doing. We’ve just got to slow down a little bit on offense, maybe speed up a little on defense. But we’ll get better. We’re going to work on it and keep getting better.”
Leading the Trojans for the third time in as many games with the program was senior Warsaw transfer Ross Johnson, who poured in a game-best 18 points against a very active NorthWood zone. Johnson finished 8 of 13 shots from the field on his way to the tally before exiting the game after going down on a fast break at the 4:33 stop of the fourth, although Groves said the cause was only a cramp, and Johnson seemed to be fine after the game.
“He’s been doing a lot for us offensively,” Groves said. “He creates for us. I thought tonight he did a better job shooting the ball, too. That was nice to see. We need him to be aggressive. We told him after the OD game ‘You’ve got to be way more aggressive.’ Playing with a new group of guys I think he was a little passive, wasn’t sure how to handle it, but we said ‘No, you’ve got to be aggressive. You’ve got to do things for us.’ And tonight he was. He did a great job. Ross is a great kid. He works hard. He loves basketball. And that’s what you get when you work hard at something — you become good. Ross is a good basketball player and even better kid.”
NorthWood stays unbeaten after three games and will continue an away stretch with a game at Westview Thursday. Triton remains winless over its first three contests, meanwhile.
After back-to-back Northern Lakes Conference tests versus Plymouth and NorthWood this week, the good news for the Trojans is their schedule lightens up somewhat beginning with Tuesday’s road-opener at South Bend Career Academy.
“Last year we were 0-3, and we won 18 games. That’s what I told our kids,” said Groves. “We won’t see anybody like Plymouth and NorthWood the rest of the year. So we’ve got that going for us, I guess. We’ve just got to keep getting better, though. We can’t take anything for granted and just say ‘Oh hey, we’re over these three games; we’re fine.’ We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got to get better offensively, we’ve got to get better defensively, and our kids will do that.”
NorthWood’s JV also secured a comfortable win Friday, 64-28. Ben Vincent scored a game-high 15, Trent Edwards finished with 10, and Brock Flickinger put up nine points with six assists and four steals. Triton got seven points from Trenton Kreft and six apiece from Hunter McIntyre and Chase Butler.