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On this date in area sports history …
Sixteen years ago today, Dec. 15, 1992, at South’s Tiffany Gym, 1,572 see the North boys hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season. Complete story on the jump:
INSIDE GAME HELPS NORTH STOP SOUTH
By Ron Ware, News-Sun Sports Writer
North had seen so many zones in its first three games, senior forward C.J. McDavid said he felt like he was in one.
So when the Panthers watched smallish South come out in a man-to-man for Tuesday night’s intracity rivalry at Tiffany Gym, he couldn’t contain himself.
“We were so happy, I was drooling,” said the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, who hadn’t done that in, oh, maybe 17 years. “I was ready when I saw that.”
McDavid and fellow front-line starters Scott Deas and Jabbar Threats took a while to get cranked up, but they ended up feasting, combining for 54 points and 29 rebounds as the Panthers dominated in the second half for an 81-73 victory over the previously unbeaten Wildcats before a near-capacity crowd of 1,750.
“We knew they couldn’t match-up with us inside,” said McDavid, who scored a game-high 22 points, nearly all of them from the low post, and grabbed 10 rebounds. “They had to double-team if we threw it in to Jabbar or me, so that left somebody open.”
Somebody seemed to be open all night for the Panthers, who got most of their points on inside shots or fast breaks in shooting 53 percent to South’s 43 percent. And McDavid & Co. did most of the damage as North rose to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Western Ohio League while dropping South to 4-1 and 2-1.
Deas added 19 points and Threats tacked on 13 and a game-high 16 rebounds as the Panthers exploited a height advantage of more than 2 inches per man along the front line.
“We were talking before the game that if our guards throw the ball inside, we can have a field day in there,” Threats said.
They didn’t exactly thrive in the first half, as South led by as many as nine points before settling for a 39-36 edge at intermission.
But North took command almost instantly in the second half, rattling off 11 straight points and 20 of the first 24 to open a 56-43 bulge in just over five minutes. The Panthers outrebounded the Wildcats by 12 in the half after being outboarded by the same margin in the first half.
South got itself in trouble by missing its first six shots of the second half, including three air balls.
“Those weren’t bricks,” South Coach Larry Ham said, wincing. “Those were boulders.”
The Wildcats, who have now lost four straight to North, fought back to pull within 68-66 with 4:14 to go on Chris Wallace’s three-pointer and had a chance to tie or take the lead on their next possession.
But Craig Fullen missed a three-pointer from the left of the key, and Trent Frambro was called for traveling after grabbing the offensive rebound. The Panthers then fired in four straight baskets - by Deas, DeVon Lewis, McDavid and Threats - to take a commanding 76-66 lead with 2:17 left, and the Wildcats, who’ll get another shot at North on Jan. 29, came no closer than seven.
Dee Miller led South with 14 points, while Fembro and Wallace added 12 apiece, Brian Parks 11 and Fullen 10.
South’s players were off-limits to the media under a policy announced earlier in the day by athletic director C. Duane Baker, who said he hopes to foster teamwork and also “protect” players by banning interviews.
Ham, who said he concurred with Baker’s decision, acknowledged North’s strong inside play but pointed to the play of the Panthers’ perimeter players as the key.
Starting guards Walt Sanford and Lewis withstood South’s pressure while consistently getting the ball to McDavid, Deas and Threats. North, which switched to an effective 1-3-1 trap midway through the second quarter, made only 12 turnovers while forcing 14.
“That wasn’t what beat us,” Ham said, referring to North’s inside game. “Their perimeter people came to play tonight.”
Still, it was McDavid, Deas and Threats who put up 54 of North’s 81 points.
Now that they’ve shown what they can do, North Coach Eddie Ford said, smiling, he’ll be expecting it every night.
“We didn’t get inside as much as we wanted,” Ford insisted. “It was open, and that’s our strength. We have to go to that to be successful.”
North - and South - found that out.
NORTH (81) — McDavid 10 2-2 22, Deas 8 3-4 19, Threats 6 1-1 13, Lewis 2 4-4 8, Sanford 4 0-0 8, Fletcher 1 0-0 2, Steptoe 3 1-3 7, Stewart 1 0-0 2. Totals: 35 11-14 81.
SOUTH (73) — Miller 6 2-2 14, Fambro 6 0-0 12, Lawson 4 0-1 8, Wallace 5 0-0 12, Youngblood 2 0-0 4, Fullen 4 0-0 10, Parks 42-2 11, Walker 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32 4-5 73.
North 18 36 58 81 South 22 39 52 73 Three-point goals: North 0-1, South 5-24
Records: North 3-1, 2-1 WOL; South 4-1,2-1
Reserves: South, 79-54
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