The boys’ varsity basketball team defeated rival Jordan Matthews (JM) by a score of 62-43 Saturday at Jordan Matthews. It was the Chargers’ first win of the season, and brought their overall record to 1-1.
This was an important game, as they suffered a tough loss against the Jets last year, and had not won a game this entire calendar year, dating back to last season.
Junior Tyrell Baldwin led scorers with 21 points.
“I felt like I played good on the defensive end, which led to me scoring easy points offensively,” Baldwin said.
Despite senior Gordon Brann being out much of the first half due to foul trouble, the Chargers went on a strong run during the second quarter.
“We had a really nice stretch in the second quarter where we went on a run and established a 24-11 lead,” Basketball coach Alex Hart said. “From there that’s really a position where you want to put the pedal to the metal, and continue to take it to them.”
The Chargers continued to improve on their first half play into the second half.
“In the second half we started to execute better,” Brann said. “We started to feed the post more and take over in the post, because that was an area JM was weaker in.”
Northwood’s lead began to diminish at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth, but the Chargers responded with strong play to close out the game.
“I thought the real positive takeaway was the way we finished the fourth quarter,” Hart said. “It was a two-point ball game at around the eight-minute mark, and the group we had out there did a heck of a job on the defensive end of the floor. Being able to keep Gordon [Brann] and Juquan [Headen] out there because they were not in foul trouble in the second half helped, and Tyrell [Baldwin] and Brendan [Harrington] did a heck of a job guarding the ball as we stepped it up defensively and shot a lot more layups which was huge for us.”
Brann thought it was a solid win and that it hopefully propels them in the right direction going forward.
“Feels good to finally get a win, since we haven’t won in a while,” Brann said. “Hopefully it will boost our confidence and help us win more games.”
Northwood also took home victories against JM in varsity girls basketball, 53-25, and junior varsity boys basketball.
– By Davis Palermo
