By Dale Hubler

NAPPANEE - When Westview coach Troy Neely came out of the locker room following his team's game at NorthWood last night, he greeted the media with a sigh of relief.

"I think I have to pinch myself to see if this really happened," said Neely after his team narrowly escaped with a 66-57 overtime victory over NorthWood.

Westview improved their record to 8-0 while the Panthers dropped to 2-2 on the season.

The Warriors brought to Nappanee with them a 7-0 record and a state ranking of fourth in the latest 2A poll. NorthWood entered the game just 2-1 after nearly the entire team played in the state football championship less than a month ago.

And throughout the course of the game it seemed as though the two teams were playing on the gridiron rather than the hardwood. The largest crowd responses came late in the game with both squads jockeying for position and being cited for numerous fouls. For the game NorthWood committed 23 fouls including two technicals. Westview was whistled for 18 violations.

Judging by crowd and bench reaction, last night's officiating was about as consistent as that of the National Football League.

Derek Yoder, one of three Yoders on the Westview roster, put the first two points on the board to give the Warriors an early lead. Yoder led all scorers with 21 points on four of nine shooting from the floor and 12 of 13 at the charity stripe. Yoder was a perfect eight of eight from the charity stripe in the overtime period.

"Derek Yoder, two games ago he really came around," said Neely. "In game six he shot like he normally does, game seven he shot a little more and tonight he really shot well."

Chad Martin brought the Panthers right back followed by two of Charlie Roeder's team high 14 points to give NorthWood a slim 4-2 advantage. Despite shooting a dismal 20 percent from the floor in the first frame, the Panthers trailed by only four at quarter's end, 15-11. Westview shot 45.5 percent in the opening frame and 40 percent for the game.

Ian Reed quickly drew NorthWood within two at the start of the second stanza but the Warriors pulled away again as Aaron Huber fouled Michael Christner while shooting a three-pointer. Christner connected on two of the three charity tosses to give Westview a 17-13 lead. Adam Bontreger added two of his six points and the Warriors were up 19-13.

The Panthers then rattled off eight straight points to take a 21-19 lead with 3:15 remaining in the first half. Westview rattled off four of their own points on a free thow and a Scott Hostetler three-pointer, but it was NorthWood who held a 24-23 halftime advantage after Brock Doty hit a three-pointer near the close of the second stanza.

The Panthers emerged from the locker room and picked up right where they left off as Huber scored the first five points of the second half to give NorthWood a 29-23 advantage. Coupled with a Darin Nunemaker basket, NorthWood put together a 7-0 run.

But the Panthers allowed Westview to get a crack at three more charity tosses as Martin got a hand on Derek Yoder. Yoder's three free throws brought the score to 31-26.

Over the final two quarters Westview outscored the Panthers 28-27 to force an overtime session with the score deadlocked at 51.

"Give credit to Westview," said NorthWood coach Dan Gunn. "They hit the big shots to get back in the game. Troy Neely does a good job. You can tell it's a team that if given the chance they're gonna beat you."

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead in the extra session and never let up as they built up a nine-point advantage at 64-53. Westview was 13 of 14 from the charity stripe in the extra session. NorthWood tallied six points in the overtime frame on 3-of-8 shooting.

"You play 20 games in the season and this is just one," said Gunn. "But we looked like a poorly coached team at the end. I'm disapointed in the play of our seniors. I'm disapointed we lost our composure but games like this make you better if you learn from it."

Westview they had already learned that lesson.

"Each player wore a black sock on their righ foot as a signal for poise," said Neely. "We had to be able to take hits and retaliate. I gave each member a copy of the West Noble story as a reminder."

NorthWood (2-2) will be in action at the Goshen Holiday Tourney Dec. 28 and 29.

WESTVIEW 66 NORTHWOOD 57

(Overtime)

NorthWood 11 13 18 9 6-57

Westview 15 8 17 11 15-66

NorthWood FG FT A S R Pts.

Roeder (F) 4-8 6-6 0 1 10 14

Nunemaker (F) 3-8 1-1 0 0 2 12

Reed 5-7 2-2 0 0 3 12

Martin (C) 3-8 2-4 0 0 9 8

Huber (G) 2-9 1-1 1 2 4 5

Doty 1-6 0-2 1 1 2 3

Bradley (G) 0-4 2-3 0 1 3 2

Hochstetler 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2

Abel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19-51 19-23 2 5 33 57

Westview FG FT A S R Pts.

D. Yoder (F) 4-9 12-13 0 0 1 21

Hostetler (G) 4-9 3-5 0 0 2 10

Christner 1-4 6-8 0 0 2 8

Nelson (C) 2-4 3-3 0 1 5 7

E. Yoder (G) 2-6 3-3 0 0 1 7

J. Yoder 1-4 4-6 0 0 2 7

Bontreger (F) 2-4 2-2 0 0 0 6

R. Miller 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0

M. Miller 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Weaver 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Fought 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Totals 16-40 33-40 0 1 13 66

Three-point goals - NorthWood 1 (Doty), Westview 4 (Hostetler 2, J. Yoder, D. Yoder). Turnovers - NorthWood 11, Westview 13. Fouls - NorthWood 23, Westview 18.

JV - NorthWood 35, Westview 31

NorthWood scoring - Blosser 11, Clem 8, Miller 3, Will 3, Clouse 2, Rummel 2, Shepard 2, Baumgartner 2

Westview scoring - Ponce 10, C. Miller 5, Manns 4, Graham 4, White 4, M. Miller 3