Published: January 24, 2009 12:17 am      

HOOPS: Nothing pretty, but Tigers will take it

NW starts slowly before rolling to sixth straight win

WALTON — On a night Friday when the Northwestern boys basketball team shot itself in the foot too many times with turnovers here at Lewis Cass High School, the host Kings were mostly just shooting blanks.

So, despite committing 19 errors and scoring their second-lowest point total of the season, the Tigers (7-3) were able to grab a 48-30 Mid-Indiana Conference win on the road — Northwestern’s first in the league in three tries — and up their win streak to six straight games after a 1-3 start.

More than halfway through the fourth quarter, when his team had as many giveaways as points (five apiece) but also led 42-28, coach Jim Gish called one final timeout to read his crew the riot act.

“I really enjoy coaching these kids,” Gish said, prefacing his comments. “They’ve learned how to take criticism from me. Unfortunately they’re going to have to take it sometimes in ways that maybe not everybody likes to get it, but that’s just how it’s going to be.

“Sometimes they try too hard and become robotic, and when you do that on a basketball floor, you get in trouble.”

Those mistakes darkened an otherwise bright offensive evening when the Tigers shot 52 percent from the field (17 of 33) and 57 percent (4 of 7) from beyond the 3-point line. After being outrebounded 18-14 in the first half, Northwestern turned things around and gained a 31-30 advantage by game’s end.

The only period in which the Tigers didn’t commit at least five errors — the second — proved to be pivotal.

Already on a 7-0 run to end the first quarter, with Brayden Merrell canning two buckets in the final 35 seconds, Northwestern outscored Cass 18-7 in the second quarter with a pair of scoring streaks.

Trailing 16-12, the Tigers reeled off 13 unanswered points, including six and five respectively from reserves Jared Treadway and Austin Henderson. Northwestern scored the last five points of the first half to lead 30-19 on free throws by Nolan Sanders and Merrell.

Merrell led all scorers with 19 points and also tied for game-high honors with seven rebounds. Treadway scored nine points and Henderson had eight, including two crucial 3-pointers in the first half.

“He doesn’t have a conscience,” Gish said of Henderson. “He’s going to come in the game and I know what I’m getting. If he’s open, if there’s daylight, [the shot] is going up and that’s just the way he is. I understand that.”

The Kings (2-8, 0-3) forged a 12-5 lead early by controlling the tempo and using their size advantage inside.

Evan Depew had six of those 12 points but went to the bench after being saddled with two fouls, never to return in the first half. He finished with a team-high eight points.

Cass was simply dreadful from the field (11 of 45 for 24 percent; 1 of 16 from 3-point range), particularly in the second half when Northwestern dropped into a zone defense and the Kings hit just 4 of 24 shots.

Cass almost went 0 for the fourth quarter, ending up 1 for 14 when Andrew Troutman scored from close range with 40 seconds left in the game.

“It’s not for lack of practice and shooting,” said Kings coach Matt Carver. “It’s just we have to find guys who are going to knock down those shots. I’ve always said we’re getting good looks; we just have to find guys who can finish.”