Northview starts hot, handles South Putam

Northview’s boys basketball team couldn’t have scripted the first quarter to go any better than it did against visiting South Putnam on Friday night.

The Knights made their first seven shots and got scoring contributions from seven different players in the opening stanza to build an 11-point lead that was widened to as many as 15 in the first half.

It was a place the hosts had found themselves in several occasions throughout the season. And after seeing the Eagles make a run in the second and third quarters, it started to feel eerily similar to some of the losses the Knights suffered in November and December.

Instead of crashing and burning, though, Northview rode the wave until the end. And in doing so, Northview closed out a 63-45 victory over South Putnam, marking the first time the Knights have won back-to-back games this year.

“We blitzed them right off the bat but then some of their scorers got going and we got a little stagnant and went through a lull, but we responded a lot better than we have in the past,” said Northview head coach Shawn Nevill.

The first quarter was paramount in building a double-digit lead, which Nevill said the Knights were able to do by attacking the rim, stating, “I think our first eight or 10 points were all on layups, which is probably why they went to a zone because they thought they couldn’t stay in front of us. We just attacked the zone so well, which is something we can do because we’re athletic and quick.”

But the way the Knights weathered the storms in the second and third quarters may have been even more important, the first-year coach pointed out.

As South Putnam’s Drew Hill and Cameron Bozell, each of whom finished in double figures for the Eagles, found their shots in the middle portion of the game to help bring the visitors closer and closer with each passing second, it was Northview that had a response every time.

How did they do it? Defense.

Northview forced the same number of turnovers (7) as it surrendered points (7) in the third quarter, which kept them in front despite committing nine turnovers in the period itself, said Nevill.

“It got ugly there in the third quarter, but it didn’t start unraveling. I think that’s just coming of age for us,” Nevill said. “We called a timeout during [that stretch] and said, ‘Hey, we’re letting them hang around. We have to get back on a run.’ We have to give them credit for hitting a few shots and forcing us to turn it over, but I thought we responded a lot better tonight than we have in the past.”

For South Putnam, making the run throughout the second quarter and then into the start of the third quarter was just about switching a flip in terms of their mindset, said head coach Josh Estridge.

“I think it was just a mindset change and getting settled into the game and with the environment being the way that it was and guys playing with more confidence,” said Estridge. “It wasn’t anything that we did, we just did what we do a little bit better.”

That changed in the third quarter as Northview turned up the heat on the defensive end, which caused the Eagles to speed up and give the ball away.

“They amped up the pressure a little bit and we struggled with that. They took advantage of it and went from there,” said Estridge of Northview’s defense.

Northview kept its foot on the gas by putting the ball into the hands of Brayden Goff, who recorded his first career triple-double with 16 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, and let the sophomore guard lead the hosts to its second straight victory.

SOUTH PUTNAM (45) — Mullin 1-5 2-2 5, Witt 1-1 0-0 3, Hill 4-14 4-6 13, Bozell 4-7 0-0 12, Harris 2-6 0-0 4, Jefferson 2-6 2-4 6, Cline 1-4 0-0 2, Garner 0-5 0-0 0, Benton 0-0 0-0 0, Tincher 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 15-49 FG, 8-12 FT, 45 TP.

NORTHVIEW (62) — Buis 1-2 3-4 5, Bryan 3-7 0-0 8, Goff 5-10 6-8 16, Fowler 4-7 1-1 9, McCollum 7-7 0-1 14, Fosdick 2-3 0-0 4, Buell 2-2 2-2 6, Schimmel 0-1 0-0 0, Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Clarke 0-0 0-0 0, Bath 0-0 0-0 0, Bennett 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 24-39 FG, 12-16 FT, 62 TP.

3-point shooting — SP 7-21 (Mullin 1-3, Witt 1-1, Hill 1-5, Bozell 4-6, Cline 0-2, Garner 0-3, Tincher 0-1), Northview 2-7 (Buis 0-1, Bryan 2-5, Schimmel 0-1). Rebounds — SP 19 (Jefferson 4, Mullin, Bozell 3), Northview 27 (Goff 10, Bryan 4). Turnovers — SP 17, Northview 21. Total fouls — SP 21, Northview 13. Fouled out — none.