Northside basketball completes 14-point comeback to leapfrog Veterans in region standings

WARNER ROBINS — The Northside gym was louder than it’s been in a while for a game not against Warner Robins, and Saturday night’s game against Veterans might even rival that.

This was an important game for the region standings, and the Eagles (12-10, 4-4 Region 2-5A) leapfrogged the Warhawks (13-10, 4-5 Region) with a 62-57 win to get to third place.

Here are three observations:

The turning point

Northside was down 35-21 with 5:41 to play in the third quarter.

They trailed 28-21 at halftime, and that 7-0 run from Veterans looked like it might put the Eagles away and another blowout in their books.

But, coach Buck Harris called a timeout to regroup his team.

“I think I called a timeout and I told them in so many words that, y’all weren’t very good, and we wasn’t at the time,” Harris said. “I think when I put Braylon [Price] back in the game he gave us a spark, and some guys made some shots. And defensively, we changed up and gave some different looks.”

Harris also thinks that the ‘Hawks overtime thriller against Thomas County Central the night before may have helped them out.

“I thought [Veterans] got tired. Anytime you have to go to Coffee or Thomas County Central and come back the next day and play an afternoon game, your legs are gonna give out eventually,” Harris said. “With the exception of [Aiden Sweenor], he made some tough shots for them, but the other guys they made shots early in the first half. But as the game went on and the game got tight, the basket gets small.”

The Eagles unleashed a 21-5 run that extended into the fourth quarter to take a 42-40 lead with 7:15 to play thanks to an increased intensity on defense, led in large part by solid rim protection from Chastan Brown.

The teams traded big shots and the lead, and Vontrez Quainton, Mekei Spencer and Jordan Gaines all hit 3-pointers that riled the crowd up in an instant county rivalry classic.

Improved rim protection

Brown has had a tendency to chase blocks instead of contesting the shot in the past, but he was much improved against Veterans.

He stayed on the floor with his hands up, and as the ‘Hawks tried to run offense through Tristen Abner and Trey Byrd, they were met with a 6-foot-8 stone wall that prevented them from scoring.

Brown has always had the potential to be the best, most impactful big in Houston County with his size and athleticism, and he’s finally starting to live up to that as the regular season winds down.

“The last two nights, last night and tonight, I thought he’s played his best basketball,” Harris said. “He had 16 [points] and 10 [rebounds] last night, and I don’t know what his numbers were tonight, but he’s learning to stay on the floor and let people score through him.”

“All I need him to do is be big and big 6’8, I don’t need you to try to block everything. Make them core through you, and if they score, that’s fine. But I need him to be on the floor. If he’s got two or three fouls in the first quarter, then he can’t help us.”

“Dec. 10 was a long time ago”

Even before this game it was obvious that Northside has made huge strides in their first year under Harris.

When the Eagles first played Veterans, they lost, badly.

They lacked discipline which led to poor decision making on the floor. They were too quick to take 3-pointers, they moved too fast when they fell behind and overall had a long way to go.

They are by no means in the promised land, but watching Northside the last couple of weeks is like watching an entirely different team.

Not to mention, the last time the Eagles had double digit wins was the 2019-2020, and the last time they had four region wins was 2017-2018.

It’s like Harris said after the game, Dec. 10 was a long time ago.

“December 10th was a long time ago. We were trying to find ourselves the first time we played [Veterans], and we had some guys that didn’t play well that game,” Harris said. “We had some guys that didn’t play at all. We’ve grown and we’ve matured and we got a long way to go. But we got some key production from some different guys tonight.”

“To be down 14 to that team and come back and win by five, I couldn’t be more proud of them. It’s just growth. It’s just growth, and they trusted me to lead them and understand what I’m telling them, following what we gotta do, that’s a sign of growth.”

UP NEXT

Northside will wrap up the regular season this week with an away game at Lee County on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. Their final game will be on Friday, Feb. 7 as they host Thomas County Central at 6 p.m.

Veterans will host Tift County on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. and Lee County on Friday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.