North Wins Buzzer Beater

“It feels better than I thought it would,” coolly remarked coach Spitler after logging his first win as varsity coach. North had to win in come from behind fashion on the road and then hit the game winning shot with about 1.2 seconds left in the game. North let Trail garner a 10 point lead in the 1^st quarter, then had to play catchup the remainder of the game. After staying on the heels of Trail for most of the game. North's Zach Edgin threw an improbable inbound pass ¾ the length of the court to a waiting Gabe Brinson who caught the ball close to the basket and tossed it in for the victory 64-62 as time expired.

But first up this week for North was a game with Franklin a D2 school in the SWBL's big school division. North was able to play with the Wildcats for about a half. The score was tied at the end of the 1^st quarter and with about a minute left, Franklin went on a run to capture the lead 36-28 at half time. But Franklin carried their momentum forward into the second half and had a 54-40 lead at the end of 3 quarters. North had a tough time against Franklin's ¾ court press. And Franklin would win 60-44.

“You can't win turning the ball over 30 times,” remarked coach Spitler after this game, “Turning the ball over was the difference in this game. There were a lot of careless passes. We kept it close a good bit of the game, and otherwise gave good effort – take away the turnovers and we were in that game.”

To say that North got to a slow start against Trail is an understatement. At one point the score was 18-3 before the team seemed to wake up and go a on little run to close out the 1^st quarter. But coach Spitler adjusted the defense to a man to man and from there North began to slowly dig themselves out of the hole.

It was 31-26 at halftime. And the game became a rubber band game where North would make a run and draw close, but Trail would feel the heat and go on a run of their own to stretch their lead back out. But North kept the heat up and finally tied the score late in the 4^th quarter. Then North hit the aforementioned shot to win the game at the buzzer while the gym erupted in pandemonium.

“It feels really good; it feels better than I thought it would,” stated coach Spitler after the victory, “We have 2 tough games coming up next week against Miami East and Brookville, so we needed this win now. I saw that East beat South 57-30, and South is a good team.”

He was asked about having 3 scorers in double figures, “Garret Woodyard -He had a good week this week. He scored well against Franklin and put up 15 against Trail. Gabe Brinson had 15 points too, and Kurt Brinson put up 23. They all played well tonight.”

North plays 2 tough teams back to back. Travelling to Miami East on the 18^th and then hosting neighboring Brookville on the 19^th. Then they will participate in the Shawnee Holiday tournament over Christmas break.