CINCINNATI — Being a defense-first coach, Wilmington’s Todd Cook looked at the numbers for Northwest after the game and felt good.
“If you tell me an opponent is going to score 58 points, I think we have a chance to win,” he said. “24 points at halftime … I think we’re doing a good job (defensively).”
But in the end, Wilmington’s woeful shooting night was too much for any defensive effort to overcome in a 58-32 loss to the Knights.
“Our offense has to get better,” Cook said. “We did a better job of mixing 2s an 3s.”
Wilmington is averaging just 49 points per game this season.
Saturday night, after Matt Butcher’s 3-pointer early in the game, Wilmington missed its next 15 field goal attempts until Mikey Brown went coast to coast with a layin at 4:27 of the second quarter. By then Northwest led 20-6 and WHS never seriously threatened after that.
The final shooting numbers were 12 for 47 for the Hurricane. They were 6 for 21 beyond the arc but just 1 for 8 in the final period.
Wilmington also was outrebounded soundly by the Knights, 43-28.
Kellen Baltazar led WHS with 12 points. He was 5 for 10 shooting. The rest of the team was 7 for 37. Brady Vilvens and Cole Bernhardt grabbed 5 rebounds each. Luke Blessing handed out 2 assists. Bernhardt had 2 steals.
Derrius Sanders had 11 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots for Northwest. Elijah Horton had 16 points to pace the offense.
Northwest (2-2) struggled to shoot was well, going 5 for 23 in the first half. But the Knights heated up in the second half, connected on 14 of 27 from the field and never letting Wilmington back in the game.
WHS head coach Matt Kramer is expected to return to the team Monday after quarantine. The Hurricane plays at Little Miami on Tuesday.
SUMMARY
Dec 19, 2020
@Northwest High School
Northwest 58, Wilmington 32
NW^9^15^14^20^^58
WI^4^7^9^12^^32
(58) NORTHWEST (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Hill 3-1-2-9 Grant 2-2-4-10 Horton 5-4-2-16 Hassane 0-0-0-0 Sanders 3-0-5-11 Willis 0-0-0-0 Poetter 0-0-0-0 Baltimore 1-0-0-2 Barksdale 0-0-0-0 Neal 0-0-0-0 Miller 4-0-0-8 TOTALS
(32) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Butcher 2-2-0-6 Glass 1-1-0-3 Vilvens 1-1-0-3 Bernhardt 0-0-0-0 Blessing 2-0-0-4 France 0-0-1-1 Baltazar 5-2-0-12 L. Griffith 0-0-0-0 Miller 0-0-0-0 Brown 1-0-0-2 TOTALS 12-6-2-32
FIELD GOALS: NW 19/50 (Horton 5/6); WIL 12/47
3 PT FIELD GOALS: NW 6/16 (Horton 4/5); WIL 6/21
FREE THROWS: NW 13/15 (Grant 4/4); WIL 2/4
REBOUNDS: NW-43 (Sanders 13 Miller 7 Hassane 5); WIL-28 (Vilvens 5 Bernhardt 5 France 4 Butcher 4 Blessing 3 Glass 1 L. Griffith 1 Miller 1)
ASSISTS: NW-7 (Grant 3); WIL-5 (Blessing 2 Butcher 1 Glass 1 France 1)
STEALS: NW-9 (Sanders 3); WIL-5 (Bernhardt 2 Butcher 1 Blessing 1 Baltazar 1)
BLOCKED SHOTS: NW-3 (Sanders 2); WIL-1
TURNOVERS: NW-14; WIL-15
