Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NAPPANEE - The Northwood Panthers came into Friday night's sectional semifinal against Angola with a lot of things going for them.
The Panthers were riding a five-game winning streak, coming off of a bye and playing for the chance to tangle with Northridge, a team they had played twice already this season. And they were playing own their home court.
Despite all that, Northwood fell to a surging Angola team 69-55.
The score is deceiving. Northwood was down only six, 61-55, with 1:13 left to play after Nic Bradley hit a three-pointer.
Northwood turnovers and Angola's ability to hit free throws down the stretch kept the Panthers from getting any closer.
Northwood was the aggressor early as the Panthers started the game hitting five of their first six shots from the field and jumping out to a 14-4 early first quarter lead.
The Hornets then did what they would continue to do all night long - go on big, quick runs. After Northwood jumped out to the early 14-4 lead, Angola held the Panthers scoreless the rest of the quarter and went on an 11-0 run.
Nine of the 11 points came off of three-pointers. Chad Adolph hit two straight three pointers and Archie Clark added another to end the first quarter and give Angola a 15-14 lead.
Northwood began to take control of the tempo in the second quarter. Instead of getting involved in an up-and-down game with Angola, the Panthers slowed their offense down and were able to create oppurtunites. Northwood's Bobby Brown poured in seven of his game-high 28 points in the quarter.
The Panthers were also getting to the charity stripe. Eric Zell was 6 of 6 from the line in the second and the team was 9 of10 as Northwood recaptured the lead at 32-24. Another Adolph three-pointer and a Clark basket left Angola down only five at 34-29.
The Hornets started the second half with a 7-0 run within the first two minutes. Northwood answered with Brown. He scored 10 of the team's 14 third-quarter points. Brown got many of his scoring chances by running his defender ragged. On two seperate occasions in the span of a minute and a half, Brown faked to the perimeter and went back door for easy layups.
While Northwood was still hanging in with Angola, the Hornets began to quicken the tempo of the game. Clark started to bring the ball quickly up court and get his teamates involved.
He helped guide Angola to 6-2 mini-run.
The last three points came off of a Ray Sterling shot from behind the arc. Northwood had a chance to draw closer when Jake Yoder stole the ball from Clark and flew down court. Yoder missed a wide open layup however, which led to Sterling's three and gave Angola a 49-48 lead going into the final stanza.
Northwood quickly pulled back ahead as Brown hit a jumper to give the Panthers a 50-49 edge. The Hornets came back just as quickly as Sterling hit a three-pointer to put Angola on top. After a Charlie Roeder basket tied the score at 52-52, Angola went on another fast and furious run.
The Hornets 9-0 spurt started as Adolph nailed a three-pointer. He was deadly from behind the arc hitting 6 of 10.
Northwood had plenty of chances to keep from failing behind, but the Panthers went cold from the field in the final quarter, hitting only 3 of 12 from the field. Brown especially struggled, hitting on only 1 of 5 from the field in the final quarter. According to Northwood coach Dan Gunn it wasn't what the Hornets did, but what his team didn't do.
"I don't think Angola changed a thing," he said. "(Brown) had a couple of shots right in the lane. Yoder made a good move to the basket but it just hit the back of the rim. Sometimes the ball just doesn't go in the basket."
When Brown missed a jumpshot with 2:17 left in the game, Northwood had to start to foul Angola and hope that the Hornets would miss the freebies and that they would begin to hit their shots.
Neither wish came true. Angola hit 8 of 10 from the line in the last two minutes of the game and Northwood didn't score another point for the rest of the game.
It was Northwood's fourth-quarter collapse, not the Panthers looking ahead to round three with Northridge, that spelled the end for Northwood, Gunn said.
"I thought we played pretty well through three quarters," he said. "Some nights your best isn't good enough, but I thought our kids went out there and gave a great effort."
Part of Northwood's woes in the fourth quarter could be contributed to sloppy play. The Panthers turned the ball over six times in the final quarter.
Despite the dissapointing loss, Gunn was happy with his team's overall performance this season.
"It was a great year, 15-6," he said. "I wish all my years would have been that good. I was proud of the seniors. They went out there and gave their best. We're all human and we make mistakes but as long as they're trying, that's all that matters."
Northwood ends its season at 15-6 and 3-3 in the NLC.
