Revenge fuels Kenton Ridge vs. Northridge
SPRINGFIELD — Kenton Ridge senior Tyler Eberhart focused on the present, but the past popped into his mind Friday night when he stepped to the freethrow line. The score was tied against Northridge with 27 seconds left.
Two years ago on the same Springfield High School floor, the second-seeded Cougars were upset by Graham in the first round of the Division II tournament on two buzzer-beaters — one to force overtime, the second to win it. They also lost to Northridge in the first round last year by eight points, and Eberhart said revenge was a motivation.
“When we were tied, I thought, ‘We can’t go down like this again,’ ” Eberhart said. “Use that as fuel.”
Eberhart (19 points) made both free throws for a twopoint lead. “A lot of pressure on me, and I’m glad I put them in,” he said.
After the teams traded a free throw apiece, Northridge had the ball with 5.4 seconds left. No doubt that superquick guard Darryl Story would get the ball and rush it up court.
“He got a little bit past the defender, and I had to help on the backside,” the 6-foot-7 Eberhart said. “Jumped up, thought I got a good block at it and they called a foul. I was just praying for our life on the free throws.”
With 0.7 left, Story (22 points) missed the first. He missed the second on purpose hoping for a tip-in, but the Polar Bears were called for a lane violation and that was it. Kenton Ridge had won 56-54 for its first tournament victory since Eberhart’s freshman season.
“We use the terminology survive and advance,” Cougars coach Kris Spriggs said. “And tonight we survived.”
The fourth-seeded Cougars (17-5) face 10th-seeded Bellbrook (10-12) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Springfield. The 7:30 game pits No. 2 Alter (19-4) against No. 11 Ponitz (10-13). The winners meet Friday at 7 p.m. for the right to go to districts a week later at the University of Cincinnati.
Alter dominated No. 17 Northwestern from the start with lots of easy baskets to win 73-23 behind 23 points from Brady Uhl and 13 from Jack Smith. Ponitz and Urbana battled to a one-point game for three quarters, but the Panthers dominated the fourth for a 62-48 victory. Delvonte Adams scored 14 points and Dayjaun Anderson and Peyton Lyons each added 12.
Ponitz got an early jump on the fourth quarter on Devon Perdue’s 30-foot 3-pointer to end the third. Then the Panthers turned up the pressure.
“We imposed our defensive will on them and that was the No. 1 thing we had on the board,” said second-year Ponitz coach Allen Spears.
The lead reached 53-44 on a Lyons 3-pointer with 3:35 left, and 15th-seeded Urbana (11-12) was out of it despite 17 points from center Grant Hower.
“We had been preaching all week that it’s a game of runs,” Spears said.