Northwest 69 Carrollton 61

[Yappi]

by starkravingdad

Upsets were in the air: Lake beat Hoover at Hoover, St Thomas got their first win over CCC, and CVCA had the Falcons shaking after 3 quarters in the Nest. And in Carrollton, the 1-13 Warriors led at the half by three over the 10-3 NW Indians.

But the Indians won the second half going away with pressure defense and a balanced attack to stay tied for first in the NBC with a 69-61 victory.

NW jumped out to a 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Paul Hensley and Jim Shiplett led the early surge with offensive rebounds and put backs.

Much to the delight of the home crowd, the Warriors roared back in the second quarter. Carrollton played an extremely physical game, and the officials seemed content to let them play. NW turnovers and some bad shots led to a 10-3 Carrollton run. The game almost got out of control in the 2nd with a scramble for a loose ball that looked more like a rugby scrum with the majority of the players ending up out of bounds. Ignoring two obvious times when each team shared possession, the refs called no jump ball but gave the ball to Carrollton. Credit the coaches and players from both teams for keeping their heads during this heated time in the contest.

The second half belonged to the Indians. Trailing 30-27, junior guard Nate Millard's two steals, score and assist helped put NW on top 31-30. Hensley and Tyler Krzynowek began taking the ball strong to the basket. The NW trapping press began generating turnovers. The officials did an "about face" from the first half and began calling everything that looked like a foul. The fouls began mounting up on Carrollton and NW pulled away to a 49-39 lead at the end of 3.

Carrollton fought back in the 4th on the strength of 3-point shooting from Ty Haugh and Hunter Boarland. Haugh hit 4 threes to pull NW out of their 2-3 zone before shutting him down with a man-to-man look. Carrollton began to foul deliberately on defense and fire threes on offense to get back in it, but NW hit enough free throws to pull it out, 69-61.

In a very balanced attack, Krzynowek led the Indians with 17, while Hensley had a great all-around game with 14 points and nine boards. Tim May chipped in 10and 4 more Indians had at least 5 points apiece. Haugh had 19 points and 7 rebounds while Boarland added 22 points.