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On this date in area sports history …
Eleven years ago on this date, Jan. 16, 1998, the North boys basketball team had a little fun in blowing out Xenia. Complete story on the jump.
PANTHERS ROLL.
OVEREAGER TEAM SETTLES DOWN TO GET WOL VICTORY
By Greg Billing, News-Sun Sports Writer
North’s boys basketball team — holding major advantages in quickness and height — turned on showtime a little too early Friday against Xenia.
Three missed dunks and a technical foul for hanging on the rim — all in the second quarter — prompted North Coach Eddie Ford to focus the Panthers on the virtues of good defense and smart shot selection in the second half.
With help from its 2-3 zone and composed offense, North eventually dominated Xenia, 63-43, in the Western Ohio League game.
The Panthers improved to 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the WOL, while Xenia fell to 1-9 and 1-6.
“I think we figured we had this team beat,” North junior Ty Myers said, explaining the Panthers efforts to duplicate moves of their NBA idols.
The trouble came in the second as the Panthers flirted with a double-digit lead. Up 17-10 and following a steal, Myers sent his first dunk attempt bouncing high off the rim. His second attempt a minute later also refused to go down, but did bounce off the backboard and in for a 22-12 lead.
North junior Marcus Banta almost found himself on the receiving end of an alley-oop pass with 2:32 left in the half. But he couldn’t get to the ball and was left dangling from the rim for a technical foul. He picked up his third foul just 15 seconds later.
“That shows our immaturity as a team,” Ford said. “We thought we’d go out and beat them and they’d roll over.”
Xenia senior Zach Hughes knocked down one technical free throw to pull the Buccaneers within seven at 22-15. North led by that same margin at the half.
“We tried to showboat in the second quarter and we let them get back into the game,” North sophomore Joey Davis said.
“We were trying to do highlight moves,” added sophomore Adam Ellis. “We knew we had to take our time. We needed to play smart.”
North’s switch from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone forced bad shots from a Xenia team already struggling from the field. And the Panthers were more than willing to take advantage of those opportunities this time.
“We knew they didn’t have many three-point shooters,” Davis said. “The zone helped us get a couple of steals.”
Junior Vaughn Stephens and Ellis knocked down back-to-back treys with just under two minutes left in the third and North finally pushed its lead to — and kept it at — double digits the rest of the way. The Panthers knocked down 6 of 8 shots in the third, while Xenia hit just 3 of 14.
“If we play like that every game, no one can beat us,” Myers said of North’s second half.
Stephens led all scorers with 17. Myers had 16 points and seven rebounds and Ellis tallied 14 points.
“We weren’t getting the shots we wanted,” Xenia Coach Tony Ricciuto said, whose team shot 13 of 57 overall.
Ricciuto, who left Catholic Central to coach at Xenia, also had no answer for the 6-foot-9 Banta and Ellis and Myers, both 6-4.
“We talked about taking it at Banta, but you can’t neutralize one kid,” he said.
Xenia discovered that in the first quarter as Banta scored seven of his nine points during a 13-4 run. The Panthers led 15-7 after one quarter as the Buccaneers shot 3 of 15 from the floor.
North’s height was neutralized in the second as Banta and Davis both picked up their third fouls. While Davis finished with four, Banta fouled out with 4:14 remaining in the game.
“We played very sloppy and we didn’t execute well enough,” Ford said.
But against Xenia — whose tallest active player was 6-2 senior Joe Freeman — North managed to get court time for all but one varsity player. The Panthers played without senior Robbie Browning. Ford said Browning sat out with internal school problems and his status is day to day.
XENIA (43) — James 2-8 3-5 7, Hughes 5-17 5-6 16, Parries 3-8 1-2 7, Brown 1-4 0-2 3, Bynum 1-1 1-2 3, Freeman 0-3 2-4 2, Marshall 1-9 3-4 5, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Futrell 0-5 0-0 0, Darjean 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-57 15-25 43.
NORTH (63) — Davis 0-3 0-0 0, Stephens 8-11 0-0 17, Ellis 6-12 1-3 14, Myers 7-11 2-4 16, Banta 4-9 1-2 9, Haycox 2-2 0-0 5, Wagner 0-3 0-0 0, Wynn 0-2 0-0 0, Bacon 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 28-54 4-9 63.
Xenia 7 19 30 43
North 15 26 42 63
Three-point goals: Xenia 2 (Hughes, Brown), North 3 (Stephens, Ellis, Haycox).
Records: Xenia 1-9, 1-6 WOL; North 8-3, 4-3.
Reserves: Xenia 45, North 42
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