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NAPPANEE - Heading into Saturday night's boys basketball game at NorthWood, the host Panthers would find out just how good this team would be.
Coming off an emotional win over East Noble Friday, the Panthers schedule only got tougher. Enter the 4-0 Fairfield Falcons, also winners Friday night by defeating Goshen 56-52 to stay unbeaten.
To say the least, this game was huge for both teams as only one team would escape without a loss.
The first quarter went exactly as expected as both teams came out in a pressure man-to-man defense. Early on, the Falcons and Panthers traded baskets.
Fairfield, who starts five guards, came out lighting up "The Pit." Senior Cullen Stanger was the hot Falcon early, hitting all four shots in the first quarter, including one three-pointer and scoring nine early points.
Then the Panthers found a way to control him, limiting Stanger to only four more points the rest of the game.
"Fairfield has good shooters," said NorthWood coach Dan Gunn. "They are a very good basketball team."
Brock Doty was NorthWood's go-to guy in the first quarter. Doty went a perfect 3 for 3 to score six points and give the Panthers a 19-16 lead after the first quarter.
The Falcons opened up the second quarter on a Wes Mejer three-pointer to tie the game at 19-19. Again, both teams were trying to find an edge.
Doty was again impressive for the Panthers, scoring six more points in the second quarter. Charlie Roeder also began heating up, scoring five points in a matter of two minutes to up the lead to 30-24.
Free throw shooting kept the host team ahead as the Panthers hit 9 of 12. The big stat of the half was that Fairfield didn't attempt a free throw.
"We just weren't aggressive enough," said Fairfield coach Scott Miller. "We got into foul trouble early, and our shots weren't going in. We didn't execute tonight, period. Give NorthWood credit, they are a very good defensive team.
NorthWood took a 33-26 lead into the break.
Again, the Falcons made a run at the start of the third quarter, scoring the first two points to cut the lead to five. Ryan Thwaits had a nice quarter for Fairfield, scoring five points.
After the Doty show of the first half, fellow senior Charlie Roeder picked it up in the third, scoring 11 points.
"Charlie is a competitor," said Gunn. "He played the whole game against East Noble and only came out for 10 seconds tonight."
After going to a trap, the Panthers upped their lead to 52-40 after three quarters.
The Falcons were down but not out in the game as poor fourth quarter free throw shooting by the Panthers let them back into it.
Thwaits again carried the Falcons in the fourth, scoring 12 points.
"We didn't do the little things to put teams away at the end," said Gunn. "We need to work on our free-throw shooting."
NorthWood had chances to put the game away at the charity stripe but couldn't convert.
The Panthers hit only two field goals in the quarter and scored 14 from the line.
"Our kids didn't give up," said Miller. "I never thought we would quit."
With the panthers up 68-63 with 15 seconds left, Ben Bernaert buried a three-pointer to cut the Panther lead to 68-66. NorthWood freshman Ryan Bradley clamly made two free throws with one second left to secure the win.
Just 20 seconds earlier, Bradley missed his free throws.
"We really need to concentrate at the end of games," said Gunn. "We had a great weekend. Our kids rode to the challenge both nights."
Roeder led the Panthers with 22 points and seven rebounds. Doty added 21 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Rory Clouse also scored in double figures, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Fairfield had four players in double figures led by Thwaits with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Stanger finished with 13, Chad Garber pitched in 12 and Matt SChultz added 11.
NorthWood (3-0) travels to Concord Friday, while Fairfield (4-1) travels to Lakeland.
NORTHWOOD 70, FAIRFIELD 66
NorthWood 19 14 19 18 - 70
Fairfield 16 10 14 26 - 66
NorthWood FG FT A S R Pts.
Roeder (G) 6 9-12 3 0 7 22
Doty (G) 7 5-6 0 0 3 21
Reed (F) 2 2-2 2 0 7 6
Shepherd 0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Will (F) 2 1-4 3 0 4 5
Clem 0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Blosser 0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Clouse (C) 2 5-6 2 0 6 10
Bradley 1 4-6 1 0 0 6
Totals 20 26-36 11 0 27 70
Fairfield FG FT A S R Pts.
Stanger (G) 5 1-2 0 1 1 13
Garber (G) 3 5-5 1 0 4 12
Thwaits (F) 7 4-5 3 0 10 21
Bernaert 2 0-1 0 0 2 6
Beachy 0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Schultz (F) 4 2-2 1 0 3 11
Mejer (C) 1 0-0 2 0 2 3
Walter 0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 22 12-15 7 1 22 66
Three-point goals -ÊFairfield 10-27 (Satnger 2-3, Garber 1-4, Thwaits 3-8, Bernaeart 2-4, Schultz 1-2, Mejer 1-6), NorthWood 4-10 (Roeder 1-1, Doty 2-2, Reed 0-3, Blosser 0-1, Clouse 1-2, Bradley 0-1). Turnovers -ÊFairfield 12. NorthWood 6. Total Fouls -ÊFairfield 26, NorthWod 17. Fouled out -ÊGarber, Reed.
JV Score - FAIRFIELD 60, NORTHWOOD 28.
