By DEREK FISHER
BUNKER HILL — The door was slightly ajar, but the Braves couldn’t quite sneak through.
Down by double digits in the early going Saturday night, the Maconaquah boys basketball team used a 12-1 third quarter run to pull within a single basket (43-41) of the visiting Northwestern Tigers, but eventually lost momentum and fell short by a 70-56 final score.
The victory improved Northwestern to 9-4 on the year (2-2 MIC), while Maconaquah fell to 3-10 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
“Maconaquah is playing really good basketball right now,” said Tiger coach Jim Gish. “We got complacent at times in the third quarter and anytime you get complacent, that causes a lot of problems defensively for you. We had a 12-point lead and had some shots not fall for us early in the second half. A team like Maconaquah that can shoot the [3-pointer] can certainly make things challenging for you.”
With the Braves stumbling out of the gate against Northwestern’s 2-3 zone, Gish saw his team sprint to an 8-0 lead before Maconaquah could get on the board. The Tiger edge was padded further in the second period by Northwestern post player Jimmy McKee, who tallied eight points in the quarter on perfect shooting from the floor.
“We struggled to match up with the size and physicality of their big guys,” Maconaquah coach Lucas Zartman said. “They did a good job of recognizing our weaknesses and getting the ball inside. The big story of the evening was really the first half, because we dug ourselves a hole. We did a good job of battling back, but it takes so much energy to do that. I think we kind of ran out of gas at the end.”
The Tigers led 35-23 at intermission but the Braves’ rally, orchestrated by guards Curtis Hyde, Nick George and Corey Christner, drew Maconaquah to within 41-39 with just over a minute left in the third stanza. That was as close as Northwestern would allow it to get however, as the Tigers scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter before closing out the win at the free throw line. They were 13 of 16 from the stripe in the final period.
McKee and Zech Sanders shared top Tiger honors with 15 points apiece. McKee cleared 10 rebounds to lead his team, while Hyde led Maconaquah with 14 points.
Northwestern hosts Class 2A No. 2 Tipton on Friday. Maconaquah returns to MIC play by hosting Hamilton Heights, also on Friday.
