PITTSBORO — Back-to-back resounding dunks by Aaron Ross and Jalen McAfee-Marion to begin the game set the tone for the night as league-leading Northwood opened up an eight-point advantage in the first minute-and-a-half of play and never trailed while galloping to a 68-40 Big Eight 3A Conference triumph over East Chapel Hill Friday evening in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
The once-beaten Chargers, currently ranked eighth in the NCPreps.com media high school 3A basketball poll, improved to 6-0 in the league standings and 15-1 for the season, whereas the Wildcats dropped to 1-4 in the conference and 6-10 overall.
Ross and Deuce Powell tossed in 20 points apiece for Northwood while McAfee-Marion totaled 14 as the Chargers shot an impressive 61 percent (28-of-46) from the floor and only committed 11 turnovers.
Will Tyndall tallied 17 points to lead East Chapel Hill while Miles Merriweather contributed a double-double with 13 points and a dozen rebounds. The Wildcats connected on 46 percent (17-of-37) of their field goal attempts and held a 20-17 advantage on the glass while turning the ball over 19 times.
“I thought we set the pace of play from the get-go and brought great energy to the court tonight,” said Northwood coach Matt Brown. “We shared the ball well and stuck to our game plan by penetrating the gaps for high-percentage looks instead of relying on shooting three-pointers, which East Chapel Hill tries to force you into doing with their zone defense. We had good ball pressure and didn’t allow them to get into their offense, and while we showed good discipline on the defensive end and rotated sharply for the most part, we did have a few breakdowns on the help-side in the third quarter that gave up some layups, and that’s something we will work on correcting in practice.”
Wildcats’ coach Ray Hartsfield stated Northwood’s pressure kept his team from developing any kind of offensive rhythm, while live-ball turnovers gave the Chargers some easy baskets.
“They never stop coming at you with their scrambling defense, and our 19 turnovers were that many more possessions given to them,” said Hartsfield. “We had an opportunity to get back in the game when we cut their lead to 12 halfway through the third quarter, but then we shot ourselves in the foot with ball-handling mistakes. Northwood plays with a lot of poise, which is the sign of an experienced team, and tonight they showed why they are the number one team in the conference.”
Ross and Powell combined for 15 first-quarter points as the Chargers sank nine-of-10 attempts from the floor in the opening stanza but only led a scrappy East Chapel Hill team 19-13 after one period.
However, with Powell, Ross and McAfee-Marion joining together to score all but two of Northwood’s 16 points in the second frame, the winners methodically increased their advantage throughout the period while limiting the Wildcats to three field goals and a free throw as the Chargers carried a 35-20 lead into intermission.
After East Chapel Hill managed to narrow the gap to 42-30 when James Riley was awarded a bucket on a goaltending call with 3:47 left in the third stanza, consecutive baseline hoops by Powell ignited a 9-5 quarter-ending run that stretched out Northwood’s advantage to 16 entering the fourth period.
Following Tyndall’s conventional three-point play that brought the Wildcats within 53-38 with 6:46 remaining in the game, the Chargers closed out the contest with a 15-2 burst culminated by Colby Burleson’s three-pointer from the right wing with 8.8 seconds to go that provided the final margin while giving Northwood its biggest lead of the night.