“We couldn’t really hit a shot. We gave them a little too much space too, and they just went off from there,” Edgewood junior guard Garrett Gabbard said. “They were shooting the lights out. We battled, we tried. We just couldn’t really do anything.”
The Cougars dropped a 63-56 decision at Northwest on Dec. 9, but the rematch wasn’t nearly as competitive. The Knights led 28-24 early in the third quarter, then blew past the hosts with a 15-2 spurt.
Edgewood got 15 points from Gabbard, 14 from Eddie Driskell and eight from Ethan McCarty, but never really found an offensive rhythm.
“I think that was a testament to their defense,” Cougars coach John Thomas said. “They just got up in us and pressured us, whether it was in the full court or mixing it up a little bit. They kept us off balance all night.”
Northwest has won six of its last seven games and stands 9-4 overall and 6-1 in the SWOC. The Knights are tied for first place with Mount Healthy.
“We’ve been playing really well since Christmas,” said Northwest coach Nick Argentati, noting the only real downer during the current stretch was a “terrible” first-half performance against Mount Healthy. “When we make 3s, we’re really good because we’ve got guys that can get to the bucket and teams like to sag off.”
The Knights tossed in 10 treys against the Cougars (9-4, 3-4), with Turner hitting five and Jake Fishburn sinking three.
Turner, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, punished Edgewood all over the court. When he wasn’t drilling NBA-range 3-pointers, he was beating Cougars to the rim.
“I probably give him more freedom than any guy I’ve ever coached,” Argentati said. “But he’s so good off the dribble that teams are just starting to back off so far because he literally can go by anybody one-on-one. So when he makes shots, he’s virtually unstoppable.”
Kaleb Williams had 10 points and Fishburn added nine for the Knights, and Justin Ross grabbed a team-high five rebounds. Northwest didn’t help itself at the foul line (6 of 14), but it didn’t matter on this night.
“We didn’t dominate them in the first half by any means, but we got a little roll going there in the second half,” Argentati said. “This is kind of how basketball is. You’re not going to dominate a team for 32 minutes of a game. Our shots started going in, we’re getting a few turnovers, and then it just snowballs a little bit.
“That’s how we have to play. We’re not a great halfcourt execution type of team. We want to get going up and down, force some turnovers and play off a wave of momentum. We’re not as talented as we’ve been the last two years, but we might be a better team because we share the ball a little bit better and we’re a little bit better defensively.”
McCarty (nine), Drew Reckart (seven) and Jake Paulsen (five) led Edgewood on the boards. Driskell made the team’s only 3-pointer.
“Hats off to Nick. I always think he does a great job,” Thomas said. “Turner is very good, and his surrounding players complement each other well. Our kids give good energy and good effort. We’ve just got to keep trying to get better.”
“We’ll bounce back. We’ll be fine,” Gabbard said. “You can’t dwell on the past. We’re going to shake off this week and get after it next week for sure.”
The Cougars will travel to Harrison on Friday. The Knights are hosting Winton Woods on Tuesday.
Northwest 12-16-15-19—62
Edgewood 6-16-4-15—41
NORTHWEST (9-4, 6-1 SWOC): Ronnell Turner 10 3 28, Jacob Collins 2 0 4, Greg Jackson 0 1 1, Kaleb Williams 5 0 10, Ceshaun Housley 1 0 2, Jake Fishburn 3 0 9, Tyree McKinney 0 2 2, Micah Wilkins 2 0 6. Totals: 23-6-62
EDGEWOOD (9-4, 3-4 SWOC): Nick Noble 1 0 2, Drew Reckart 0 2 2, Ethan McCarty 3 2 8, Eddie Driskell 6 1 14, Garrett Gabbard 7 1 15. Totals: 17-6-41
3-pointers: N 10 (Turner 5, Fishburn 3, Wilkins 2), E 1 (Driskell)
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