Aaron Ross tallied eight of his game-high 16 points in the opening three minutes of play as Northwood raced out to an early 12-2 lead and was never threatened while galloping past overmatched Cedar Ridge 59-27 in Big Eight 3A Conference hoops action Friday night in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
With their sixth straight win over the Fighting Red Wolves, the Chargers now lead the all-time series 13-10 as they improved to 11-4 for the season and 4-2 against league foes.
Losing its eighth outing in a row, Cedar Ridge dropped to 1-14 for the year and 0-7 in the conference.
Deuce Powell and Tommy Ocariza each notched eight points for the victors, who connected on 25-of-51 (49%) of their field goal attempts and commanded a 26-14 advantage in rebounds while turning the ball over 11 times.
Chris Tinnen led the Red Wolves with seven points as Cedar Ridge shot eight-of-30 (27%) from the floor while committing 20 turnovers.
After the visitors from Orange County pulled within 12-7 on Andrew Altieri’s three-pointer from the right wing with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter, Northwood responded with Justin Brower’s turn-around jumper in the paint and Ocariza’s trey from the right side to end the initial stanza holding a 10-point lead.
With Adam Omar and Ocariza both tossing in three-pointers in the second period, the Chargers continued to expand their advantage, which grew to 29-10 at the break following a rebound bucket in the lane by Ross with 6.7 seconds left until halftime.
The Red Wolves trimmed their deficit to 15 on three occasions in the third quarter, the final time at 36-21 on a pair of K.J. Barnes free throws with 2:20 to go in the frame, but could get no closer as Northwood finished out the stanza with a 7-2 burst to forge a 43-23 lead.
While limiting Cedar Ridge to just four free throws over the last eight minutes, the Chargers began the fourth period with Jalen McAfee’s put-back in the lane and a Ross fast break layup to boost their advantage to 24 and gradually added to their total during the remainder of the contest, with Sebastian Mehringer’s pull-up basket from the left wing in the closing seconds accounting for the final spread besides giving Northwood its biggest margin of the evening.
CR 7 3 13 4 – 27
NW 17 12 14 16 – 59
Cedar Ridge (1-14, 0-7): Barnes 1 4-6 6 Mergenthal 2 0-0 4 Smith 1 0-0 2 Harper 0 0-1 0 Tinnen 2 3-4 7 ZHolmes 0 1-2 1 Altieri 2 1-1 6 JHolmes 0 0-0 0 Gibbs 0 1-2 1 Crane 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 10-16 27.
Northwood (12-4, 4-2): Powell 4 0-0 8 Thompson 1 2-2 4 McAfee 3 1-3 7 Brower 2 0-0 4 Ross 7 1-1 16 Omar 1 0-0 3 Arnold 1 0-0 3 Ocariza 3 0-0 8 Raines 1 0-0 2 Mehringer 2 0-0 4 Shadoan 0 0-0 0 Morgan 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 4-6 59.
Halftime: Northwood, 29-10.
Three-point goals: Cedar Ridge 1-10 (Altieri 1-6, Tinnen 0-1, ZHolmes 0-1, Barnes 0-1, Gibbs 0-1); Northwood 5-18 (Ocariza 2-5, Ross 1-2, Arnold 1-2, Omar 1-4, Powell 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Brower 0-1, McAfee 0-1, Mehringer 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Cedar Ridge 14 (Mergenthal, ZHolmes, Smith 3); Northwood 26 (McAfee 11).
Turnovers: Cedar Ridge 20; Northwood 11.
Total fouls: Cedar Ridge 14; Northwood 15.