Tyler Krebehenne (22) of North Union drives toward the basket in this file photo. The Wildcats concluded their season with a tournament loss on Friday.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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North Union was not able to rebound from a first-quarter scoring blitz as the Wildcats lost 76-43 on Friday in a Division III Central District sectional final at North Union.
The Nubians (13-9) made all eight of their field goal attempts during the first four minutes in jumping out to a 19-0 lead.
They posted 51 first-half points, finishing 20-of-37 from the field.
“We did not handle their press very well,” North Union head coach Ryan Grose said. “You can’t put yourself in that kind of hole and expect to win.”
Things improved some for North Union (18-6) in the second half, but the damage was done.
“We settled down in the second half and played better,” Grose said.
Following their opening tournament victory over Mount Gilead (65-61), Grose and the coaching staff quickly got to work on going up against Africentric.
But the problem was, by no fault of the players, there were not many ways to simulate the Nubians’ style of play, which is very much up tempo from one end of the floor to the other.
“There were no surprises and we worked on what they did,” Grose said. “But there was not a way we could mimic their size and speed.”
Africentric showed that speed and size right from the beginning.
North Union had two turnovers and did not make any of its seven field goal attempts.
Africentric wasted no time in getting to the offensive end of the court.
The Nubians got three-point goals from Chris Cooper-Patten and Cortez Freeman and Derron Gray tallied nine points.
Tyler Krebehenne scored a pair of field goals for the Wildcats as they trailed 20-5 with just under two minutes left in the quarter.
A three-point goal by Nickolas Hajjar marked the only points NU scored the rest of the frame.
The Wildcats 28-8 after the first eight minutes.
There were a few highlights for the Wildcats in the second quarter as Miles Hall hit a three-point goal and Nolan Draper weaved his way down the lane that finished with a three-point play.
Africentric, however, led 51-18 at the half.
In addition to their hot shooting from the perimeter, the Nubians went eight-of-nine from the free throw line and did not commit a turnover.
Grose told the team during the intermission the choice was to either pack it in or keep fighting.
“It is hard when you have that big a deficit, but the choice was made to keep fighting,” Grose said.
Backed by a pair of three-point goals from Krebehenne and one by Hall, North Union posted a 12-11 edge in the third quarter.
Both teams scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Hall tallied six points for NU and Draper connected from behind the arc.
Krebehenne finished with 14 points and Hall added 13.
Max Parish had eight rebounds and blocked four shots.
Gray led Africentric with 22 points.
In his second year as head coach of the Wildcats, Grose was proud of how the team played during the year.
“Getting 18 wins is something to be proud of what we were able to accomplish,” he said. “That can be taken from the hard work that was put in during the season.”
Three seniors, Rylan Keever, Draper and Parish played their last game for the Wildcats.
“I was a better coach because of them,” Grose said. “They helped us play together the whole way.”
Africentric
Crump 1-3-5, Freeman 8-2-20, Cooper-Patten 2-0-5, Smith 3-0-6, Wilkinson 0-2-2, Hardy 6-3-15, Gray 10-2-22, Faust 0-1-1. Three-point goals: Freeman 2, Cooper-Patten.
North Union
Draper 2-1-6, Keever 0-2-2, Parish 2-0-5, Hajjar 1-0-3, Krebehenne 5-2-14, Hall 5-1-13. Three-point goals: Krebehenne 2, Hall, Draper, Parish.