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Unable to keep up with the Patriot act
Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Photo by MIKE SLATTERY
Chopticon's Marcus Robinson tries to avoid the Northern double team of Joe Schwenk, left, and Marcus Martin.
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The No. 1 key before the game for Northern (4-2) was forcing turnovers and that's what they did as the Braves had 28 on the night. The Patriots outscored Chopticon 40-19 combined through the second and third quarters and shot 18 more free throws than the Braves.
"We dropped two games early [in the season], bounced back and now we have to go forward from here," said Tennell, whose team will play Broadneck at 4 p.m. Dec. 28 at the South River Christmas tournament. "We executed part of our game plan, but we are still having trouble with the basics, we missed a lot of free throws and lay-ups, but we will get better with that."
Leading the Northern offense was senior Marcus Martin with 17 points and Aaron Young with 12 points, while Brett Blevins and Joe Schwenk chipped in with seven and six points, respectively.
"We knew Chopticon did not handle the ball real well, so we put a lot of pressure on them," said Martin, who was 7 of 13 from the foul line. "We have to cut down on our turnovers and missed lay-ups and we will be fine."
The game was tied at 8 all after the first quarter but the Patriots jumped out to a 21-14 advantage in the second quarter and went into the locker room on a 9-5 run. Martin scored 10 points in the second quarter. Blevins added three steals in that quarter to ignite his team defensively. Northern took a 30-19 lead at halftime.
"It was a big win for us; we needed it before the Christmas break," said Blevins, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman. "We knew that if we came out with a win we would go in on a high note for the Christmas tournament. The key was that we had to see ball see man and read the passer on defense and not get beat back door."
Chopticon received huge production from the bench as junior forwards Rashaud Dent and Marcus Washington led the team in scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"Northern has an awesome team and Clarence has done a great job with that program," said Chopticon head coach Terry Mumau, whose team is in a rebuilding stage. "Rashaud looked good in practice yesterday and he was the first one off of our bench and had a good showing. We just have to continue to get better every game and improve."
The Patriots sprawled out to a 40-22 lead in the third after Young scored the last five points for his team and later held a 46-24 lead with 58 seconds remaining. Northern forced 12 Braves' turnovers during the third quarter.
The Braves (0-4) managed to outscore Northern 12-8 in the final period, but Northern already had a respectable cushion stemming from big runs in the second and third quarters to help seal the win.
"If we have the opportunity to get out on the fast break then that's what we will do," Blevins said. "But if we're playing a team that likes to run we will slow the game down and control the tempo of the game."
Northern 56, Chopticon 39
Northern 8 22 18 8
Chopticon 8 11 8 12
Northern: Martin 17, Young 12, Blevins 7, Schwenk 6, Tonkins 5, Brooks 4, Dangin 2, Cleary 2, Garner 1
Chopticon: Dent 11, Robinson 10, Mitchell 5, Lamoria 4, Washington 4, Cristaudo 3, Mason 2
Free throws: Northern 18-34 (Martin 7-13, Tonkins 3-4, Cleary 2-2, Schwenk 1-1, Blevins 1-1); Chopticon 9-16 (Robinson 4-8, Lamoria 2-2)
3-point goals: Northern 2 (Young, Schwenk); Chopticon 2 (Dent, Washington)
