Triad’s Batai Lease puts up an off-balance shot Friday evening against Northeastern. The Cardinals fell, 53-44. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Triad boys basketball coach Jason Malone knows if his team is going to have any success this season, it’s going to have to come during up-tempo types of games.
The Cardinals don’t have an over abundance of height, so Malone has made it very plain to his squad they are going to have to run the floor and score in transition.
The first eight minutes of Friday evening’s game against Northeastern went right on script.
Triad used its superior quickness and beat the Jets up and down the floor.
That strategy resulted in the Cardinals’ 18-6 lead by the end of the opening stanza.
Malone started to get a little antsy during the second period.
“It looked like Northeastern made some adjustments and started to put the brakes on us,” he said after Triad’s 53-44 season-opening loss. “That also continued during the second half.”
The taller Jets squad wanted the Cardinals to cool down.
A tighter defensive pressure by Northeastern slowed the contest down to a half-court game, which is not playing to Triad’s strengths.
Batai Lease, though, was on fire during the first period for Triad.
He knocked down a trifecta for his 10th-through-12th points as the home Cardinals jumped out to a 14-6 advantage.
Lease added another bucket toward the end of the period on an assist by Jalen Nott.
Lease hit a pull-up jumper in transition as the Cardinals climbed to a 25-11 spread early in the second stanza.
Both teams had to battle through turnovers and atrocious free throw shooting as the game continued throughout the quarter.
Malone said he started to become a little more uneasy when the Cardinals remained struck on 25 points for several minutes.
A three-pointer by Cole Allen later narrowed the Jets’ deficit to 29-20.
Northeastern might have been able to close the gap even further had it been able to connect on several free throw attempts.
Triad also came up with several empty possessions.
Sam Franzen was able to swish both ends of a one-and-one as the Jets pulled to within 29-24 with 36 seconds left until halftime.
Ayden Spriggs’ jumper gave Triad a bit of breathing room at 31-24.
Dale Bush, however, buried a three-pointer which pulled the Jets to within 31-27 at the turn.
Northeastern’s defense continued to slow down the Cardinals and forced several turnovers once the third quarter began.
Drew Campbell, though, was fouled on an offensive rebound.
He sank one-of-two charity tosses to pad Triad’s lead at 36-28.
The Jets continued to pound away at the Cardinals.
A bucket by Jake Nichols narrowed the gap to 37-33 with 2:31 left in the third stanza.
Lease didn’t get back into the scoring column until he came up with a steal. His ensuing basket padded Triad’s margin to 39-34.
Caleb Patterson, however, hit a jumper as the Jets pulled to within 39-36 at the end of the third quarter.
The Cardinals took a 42-36 margin when Nott drove the lane for a layup.
Fans, however, could sense the momentum was starting to shift toward Northeastern.
The Jets outscored Triad, 8-1, taking their first lead of the game at 44-43 with a little more three minutes to play.
Campbell tied the game at 44 with a free throw.
Once Allen sank a pair of rare free throws to give Northeastern a 46-44 lead, the Cardinals appeared to be in trouble.
Triad, which will play at Mechanicsburg on Friday, committed a number of turnovers as its offense went south of the border.
The Jets, on the other hand, continued to climb in altitude.
Northeastern had trouble hitting free throws earlier in the evening.
Ironically, the Jets sealed the victory down the stretch with charity tosses.
Northeastern finished the game with only 18 free throws in 37 attempts.
The Cardinals (0-1) were even chillier, going eight-for-18 at the stripe.
Northeastern
Franzen 4-6-14, Allen 3-5-12, Nichols 3-4-10, Bush 2-2-7, Webb 2-0-5, Perkins 1-1-3, Patterson 1-0-2. Totals 16-18-53.
Three-point goals: Allen 1, Webb 1, Bush 1.
Triad
Triad 8-0-18, Nott 4-1-9, Campbell 1-6-8, Spriggs 2-0-4, Bails 1-0-2, Manley 1-0-2, Warner 0-1-1. Totals 17-8-44.
Three-point goals: Lease 2.