The North East boys basketball team went back to what had been working and enjoyed similar success. The Indians built a big lead, saw Rising Sun cut it to four, and then pulled away again before holding on for a 73-67 triumph Tuesday night, February 6. Led by Tim Webster, North East stormed out to a 14-2 lead. With a boost from reserve center Jonah Hanlon, the Tigers clawed their way back into the game. Down 38-31 at halftime, Rising Sun scored the first four points of the third quarter before Chase Hollister (19 points) buried a three-pointer to start a 9-0 spurt. "I just wanted us to calm back down and refocus," North East coach Seth Grimes said. "I thought our defense, at times, looked really good early. We kept them in front. [Rising Sun] did a good job, using Ethan (Greene) with these high ball screens and trying to get some switches. We just made some adjustments to make sure we were fighting under, get in a little deeper, and not giving him as much space for these passes on the slips. My guys got back focused. They got a big lead again and we were lucky to hang on because [Rising Sun] hit some shots down the end." North East led 56-40 at the end of the third quarter and withstood a late Rising Sun rally. "Little disappointed," Tigers coach John Walker said. "I'll start by saying 'no excuses'. The next man has to step up. But we did have three of our starters out. But I thought our reserve players stepped up. We had a few mental lapses but overall they fought hard. Some kids haven't played much and they got a lot of minutes [against North East] so I thought they did well." Webster paced the Indians with 30 points. "He dominates down there. He's really good," Walker said. "We were playing some guards down low and they weren't quite used to their defensive rotations, so I've got to work on that. That's coaching. But the kids fought hard." Grimes credits Webster's determination. "It think it's just his will," the coach said. "He's always been tough for us, rebounding, the one true big man we have. When he's fighting and working on the glass, he felt rewarded. When you get to the line and you're getting the foul calls, I think it makes him even more want to fight and attack the rim. I also love the way that when he was spread out, he wasn't settling for the jump shots. He was still driving and attacking the rim. So I think a lot of it was just being aggressive and us getting to the hole." Greene put forth the same sort of effort and wound up with a game-high 32 points. "He's a special kid," Walker said of his senior forward, who played all 32 minutes. "He fights hard. He plays hard. And he's a leader on our team, no question about it. Even when he missed a shot, he was getting a rebound, putting it back, fighting hard." Trey Walker chipped in 12 for the Tigers. Each time Rising Sun threatened to get back into the game, the Indians responded. "One thing we reiterated at halftime was, we started to get a little lackadaisical, taking more threes in the second quarter," Grimes said. "And I said, 'You've got to get back to the rim. We've gotten layups, we've gotten looks inside. We've got to stay with what's been working. Overall, I thought they did a good job of attacking the rim throughout the rest of the game. I thought we did a good job of not settling for threes all night." JV and Varsity photos
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