Panthers Open With Win

BOURBON - NorthWood boys basketball coach Dan Gunn was pleased with a 13-point win over Triton, even though the Panthers won by 30 last year.

"They (Triton) have a heck of a basketball team," said Gunn, "the best team since I've been at Northwood."

The Panthers beat an improved Triton team 67-53.

After one quarter of play, NorthWood took a 20-16 lead, and the Panthers went into the lockers at halftime with a 31-28 advantage.

"We were with them 39-39 near the end of the third quarter," said Triton coach Joe Bennett. "They scored four times in a row to get an eight- or nine- point lead, and we were never able to recover from that."

NorthWood (1-0) opened its season by winning with balanced scoring and aggressive defense. "I was real pleased with the way the scoring was spread out," said Gunn. "We settled into the game in the second half and had a good run at the end of the third quarter."

Ian Reed got Northwood going in the first half, while Charlie Roeder helped the Panthers pull away in the second half.

Reed and Roeder each had 17 points to lead NorthWood.

Triton (0-2) had good guard play from Brandon Zeider, who scored 20 and Austin Unterbrink, who chipped in with 15 points.

But that wasn't enough to overcome NorthWood, which made fewer mistakes.

"They played really aggressive and only gave us one shot. I thought they rebounded well," Bennett said.

The Trojans will try to regroup tonight as they host LaVille, while NorthWood hosts East Noble next Friday.