“What I really liked is that after we blew kind of a big lead, we were able to respond,” Badin coach Nick Argentati said, referring to a 13-point edge in the first half that melted into a two-point deficit midway through the third quarter.
“Our two guys who have to play well in order for us to be good — Colton (Mehlman) and Scott (Purcell) — demanded the ball inside the paint and went to the rim and got us buckets when we needed baskets,” Argentati added.
Purcell finished with 26 points and nine assists, both of which were game highs, and Mehlman added 14 points off the bench to lead a Badin offense that at times seemed to score at will.
The Rams got 42 of their 67 points in the paint.
“They were pretty big,” Purcell said of the Knights. “But after we saw that we could score in the lane, we decided to keep attacking them in there.”
Badin had a much tougher go of it in the paint at the other end of the floor as Northwest pulled down 17 offensive rebounds that led to a good number of second-chance points.
“We had a chance to blow them out and we just let them beat us on the glass and get back in the game,” said Mehlman, who grabbed five rebounds to share team-high honors with Purcell.
Northwest’s Preston Brown collected a game-high 14 rebounds and also scored 11 points, while Marcus Lane (18) and Melvin Hunter (16) also scored in double figures for the Knights.
“Our kids stepped up and made some big shots, but we’re still a work in progress,” Northwest coach Brooks Posta said. “Badin’s a very good team, and if you would’ve said we’d be within three or four points at the end of the game, I would have taken that.”
The Knights took their first lead of the game on a Hunter 3-pointer with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
The lead changed hands a few more times before Purcell put the Rams on top for good with a driving layup that made it 42-41 with 1:26 left in the third.
The lead was up to six by the time the fourth quarter started, and Northwest never got any closer than three the rest of the way.
Tyler Sanders added eight points, and Jeff Smith and Brian Wells each chipped in with six for the Rams, who return to action Friday at home against Moeller.
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