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Fourth quarter spurs Northern to win
Friday, Dec. 18, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Northern's Marcus Martin jumps through two Great Mills defenders.
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Trailing after three quarters, the ball started to bounce in the right direction as the visitors went on a 20-point fourth-quarter surge en route to a 53-45 road victory.
After dropping its first two games of the season, Northern (3-2 overall, 2-0 SMAC) are now on a three-game winning streak and will look to carry the momentum into tonight's contest versus Chopticon at 7:30 p.m., who lost on the road to Patuxent, 53-51, in other Wednesday night action.
Great Mills (2-1, 0-1) was averaging 85.3 points in two games, before only being held under 50 points on this night due to Northern's pressure defense.
"It wasn't that we were better, it was the way the ball bounced," said Tennell, whose defense yielded Great Mills to just 26 percent shooting on the night. "We were able to rebound a little bit, we put pressure on them. They would turn it over, we would turn it over and it wasn't a great game played, but both teams fought hard. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good and we were lucky tonight."
Northern had three players in double figures as point guard Malik Tonkins led all scorers with 15 points, while Aaron Young had 13 and Marcus Martin added 11.
"When you look at our box score it's somebody different every night," said Tennell on his team's balanced scoring. "Malik is our leader right now, he's aggressive and he just makes things happen."
The Patriots outscored Great Mills 20-9 in the final period and were led by Tonkins and Martin, who combined for 14 of those points and knocked down 10 of 11 from the free-throw line during that span.
"Defense," said Tonkins, who hit three three-pointers, all coming in the first half. "We don't practice it for nothing, so we go out there play hard and play a good game. The focus was to go out there and get a win. We work on shooting threes in practice and it's no use working on them if you not going to shoot them in the game."
There were four lead changes between the two teams in the first three minutes of the fourth and after Martin put Northern up 39-38 on both of his free throws, Brett Blevins then knocked down a three to give the Patriots a four-point lead.
Great Mills' Moe Queen (8 points) cut the lead to 42-40 with a steal and a lay-in on the ensuing possession. Young then made the second of two free throws to give Northern 43-40 advantage, but Kamaron Barker (6) tied things up at 43 on a lay-in and free throw after being fouled.
"We were 1 for 18 from three," Great Mills head coach Frank Peck said. "We talked about it at halftime about our shot selection and taking it to the basket. We did a better job of that in the second half, but we still didn't finish, we had opportunities."
However, the Patriots ended the game on a 10-2 run with Tonkins scoring six of those points to help seal the win.
"This is a big win for us on the road," said Young, whose team forced 19 Hornets turnovers. "Momentum is huge because we are missing one of our players Dustin Jones to injury right now and we want to keep winning until he gets back."
Northern jumped out to a 14-5 lead to start the game after back-to-back three-pointers from Patrick Cleary (8), but Great Mills ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run.
"We weren't able to knock down shots," said Mykel Harris, a Kings Christian transfer, who had a team-high 13 points for the Hornets. "A lot of players are down tonight, but as a team we didn't come out and play tonight."
Northern took a brief 25-24 lead at halftime. But in the third, with Great Mills up 30-27, Young would put his team back up 32-30 after scoring the last five points. Harris then responded with four straight points of his own to put the Hornets back up 34-32.
Great Mills later took a 36-33 lead after three quarters, but it would not be enough in the fourth.
"We came in thinking that we were just going to beat this team," said Harris on underestimating their opponent. "But we have to play every game like it's our last."
Great Mills hosts county rival Leonardtown at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The Raiders are coming off a 50-48 road win over Huntingtown on Wednesday evening.
Northern 53, Great Mills 45
Northern 15 10 8 20
Great Mills 14 10 12 9
Northern: Tonkins 15, Young 13, Martin 11, Cleary 8, Blevins 4, Schwenk 2
Great Mills: Harris 13, Queen 8, Barker 6, Jordan 5, Teston 4,
Moye 4, Jones 3, Williams 2
Free throws: Northern 16-26 (Martin 7-8, Tonkins 4-5, Young 2-3); Great Mills 18-23 (Harris 7-7)
3-point goals: Northern 6 (Tonkins 3, Cleary 2, Young);
Great Mills 1 (Queen)
