The boys’ basketball team opened its conference play with a 85-55 loss to Southern Durham Friday night.
Southern’s J’Tori Christmas came out on fire from the three point line, finishing the game with 22 points, while Rashad Dixon scored the majority of his points above the rim. Dixon only had 10 points, but everyone in the gym knew when he rose up, something special was going to happen.
Northwood started out slowly, scoring only 13 points in the first quarter. Due to early foul trouble, coach Alex Hart put junior guard Montey Thomas into the game. Thomas scored 11 points and had four steals, providing the team with some energy coming off the bench.
“Montey was a huge spark off the bench for us,” Hart said.
Other players did not only notice Thomas’s defensive tenacity but also his fearless offensive game.
“Montey gave the team a lot on both ends of the floor tonight,” senior forward Chaz Bailey said. “Not only did he create turnovers for the team, he also made a lot of shots in tough spots.”
Also giving a spark off the bench was junior forward Jaquan Headen.
“I thought Jaquan did a really good job on the defensive end by making everyone he defended work extra hard if they wanted to score,” Hart said.
Going into next week, Hart mentioned some things the team has to work on moving forward.
“As a team, the biggest thing for us coming off of this loss is bouncing back,” Hart said. “We have to look in the mirror, keep our heads up and continue to get better.”
The Chargers will take a 1-3 record to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to try to get the first conference win of the season. Next week, the Chargers will play in the Graham Christmas tournament.
– By Jailen Leach