First Crosstown Showdown victory in five years slips away from Northside in final seconds

WARNER ROBINS — The Northside Eagles (11-6) were in control of Saturday’s Crosstown Showdown against the Warner Robins Demons (6-10), until they weren’t.

Northside led 23-10 with under three minutes to go until halftime. They had control of the game, the momentum and a double-digit lead against a Warner Robins team that was one game removed from a six-game losing streak. But they ended the night with a 55-53 loss in the final seconds.

But in a rivalry game as intense as the Crosstown Showdown, you can throw everything out of the window.

“It’s a rivalry game, you don’t look at their records,” Eagles coach Buck Harris said. “I tried to get my point across to my team that [Warner Robins is] not going away. They’re gonna continue to play, they’re coming at you, they felt like they took your best shot.”

From that moment in the second quarter Northside was outscored 45-30 the rest of the game. The Demons closed the first half with an 8-0 run, and though the Eagles reclaimed a 10-point lead in the third it had already begun to unravel.

Junior big man Elijah Patmon picked up his fourth foul with 1:09 left in the third quarter, with Warner Robins already closing in on the lead down 39-36.

With Patmon off of the floor it was night and day on both ends. Rykeem Ashley and the Demons had no real answer for Patmon’s size and strength. He helped on the boards but also was important scoring for them on the interior.

Ashley is scrappy enough to come away with some rebounds, but he stood no chance in one-on-one post ups. With the turnovers mounting those kind of plays were paramount as the margin got slimmer.

“They just killed us on the boards [when Patmon was out],” Harris said. “When Elijah is in there he gives us a chance to get rebounds a little bit easier and he can score for us down there. So one of the things I stressed to my team coming out, I wanted the ball to go inside. I called one play for Elijah four times, and he didn’t touch the ball. So that tells me right there that we’re not locked in.”

Patmon eventually fouled out with 3:47 left in the game and by that time Warner Robins had taken a slim one-point lead 47-46.

It was far from over, of course. The teams traded the lead several times over the final several minutes and each had a chance to put the other away.

X’Zavier Cannon traveled and turned it over with 52 seconds left. Kingston Allen air-balled a three-pointer and the Eagles fouled Cannon, and he missed both. Caden Lowe came up with a steal with 10.2 seconds left but Northside turned it over again.

Tyler Harris was the one to eventually put it away for Warner Robins. He had the ball on the right wing with 6.6 seconds left, spun to his right and floated a shot over the defense and through the net with 2.2 seconds left.

The Demons rushed onto the court and celebrated with Harris before the officials put the remaining time back on the clock. But Harris only had one explanation for his team’s collapse:

“We crapped our pants…We’re right at the basket, we had two or three chances, missed layups. And this one hurts because we were in control of our own destiny right here, and we just crapped our pants,” Harris said. “I’m depending on guys to make plays for me, and they didn’t. So that’s the disappointing part as a coach. When you want the ball in a certain guy’s hand and you expect them to make a play and they don’t, that hurts you the most.”

UP NEXT

Northside continues their four-game homestand on Tuesday, Jan. 13 against Veterans in a return to region play at 7:30 p.m.

Warner Robins will play their last game in a five-game road trip on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at Perry at 7:30 p.m.