NAPPANEE - A 24-point game turned into an overtime thriller Friday night at NorthWood High School.
Hosting the Wawasee Warriors in Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball action, the NorthWood Panthers surrendered a huge first-half lead, but bounced back to win 73-72 thanks to a clutch three-pointer by senior Michael Paul.With his team behind 72-70, Paul connected on an off-balance three-pointer with just five seconds remaining, propelling his NorthWood Panthers (8-1, 2-0 NLC) to their seventh-straight victory.
"Our kids executed the play very well, but at the same time, I thought Wawasee did a good job of covering it," NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe said. "Mike just made a great shot."
The fact that Paul, who finished the game with 26 points, even got the opportunity to hit a game-winner was unfortunate for the Warriors (6-4, 0-2 NLC), who have lost four of their last six games.
While trying to hold possession of the ball for the final minute of the game with a two-point lead, the Warriors instead had to spend two timeouts before turning the ball over with 19 seconds remaining. As if the turnover wasn't bad enough, Wawasee had to spend two timeouts while trying to play keep-away, preventing the Warriors from stopping the clock after the Paul three-pointer.
"We were just wanting to control the ball and make them foul, but we didn't get fouled," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said.
Not getting a foul was pretty abnormal for this NLC game, as it ended with Wawasee being whistled for 29 fouls, while NorthWood was called for 24
The heavy foul-calling was most apparent in the second quarter, when NorthWood shot 18 free throws and Wawasee attempted seven of its own.
By getting into the bonus just 25 seconds into the second quarter, NorthWood used a 30-4 run to take a 36-12 lead with 1:49 left in the half.
"We just wanted to have some patience," Mishler said. "We talked about getting a score so we could get into our full-court defense. They took that to heart and got some early scores, then our defense started paying off for us, which it has done all year. We just weren't hitting shots early to get into the defense."
To that point in the game, Wawasee had hit just 2 of 15 three-point shots, which coupled with the 12 turnovers, helped explain the big hole.
"Our guys all know they're capable scorers and they always think the positive," Mishler said. "They think, when they take the shot, it's going to go in. They're that confident. It's just sometimes, there's has to be wiser decisions."
A three-pointer by senior Trevor McKibben with 1:34 left in the half helped to kick-start the offense, as it went on to outscore NorthWood 34-10 through the third quarter, which resulted in the fourth quarter getting under way with a 46-46 score.
"I thought they were the type of team, that when they got on a run, it would be very hard to stop their run," Wolfe said.
Following big runs by each team, the next 12 minutes didn't see a lead exceed five points, but did see a heart-stopping finish that resulted in fans rushing onto the court to celebrate.
"It seemed like it was a game of two different halves," Wolfe said. "It seemed like we were in command in the first half and were able to handle what they threw at us. Then it seemed like they took control in the third quarter. Then, we ended up with a highly-contested game in the fourth quarter and overtime."
"Both teams did a great job of withstanding each other's runs and continued to play," he added.
McKibben finished with a game-high 28 points, while Wawasee classmate Riley Stichter had a nine-point, 15-rebound game.
The Warriors are in action again Friday at conference foe Elkhart Memorial.
NORTHWOOD 73, WAWASEE 72 (OT)
W 10 13 23 18 8 - 72
N 19 20 7 18 9 - 73
NorthWood - Michael Paul 9-15 4-6 26, Cameron Williams 4-5 4-7 12, Aaron Rhoade 1-2 1-1 3, Kyle Heckaman 3-7 0-0 7, Jakyah Qaiyim 5-12 5-10 15, Derek Yoder 1-5 0-2 2, Zac Coleman 0-2 8-10 8, Ryan Lincoln 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 22-36 73.
