Northside freshmen show the good, bad and ugly in Crosstown Showdown

It’s no secret that Northside head coach Buck Harris is not afraid of playing freshmen, or even starting them like he has multiple times this season including in the Crosstown Showdown.

He’s also recognized the risks associated with that. He knows some nights they’ll be great and on others they’ll look like someone playing basketball for the first time.

Kingston Allen and Caden Lowe have had their fair share of ups and downs this seasons and they were not put on pause for the Crosstown Showdown.

Allen had a team-high 14 points, but that doesn’t even come close to telling the whole story.

There were stretches where he was legitimately good, particularly coming out of the gate. He got the nod to start and came out like his hair was on fire.

He zoomed around on both ends of the floor and scored six of the Eagles’ nine first-quarter points. But he also missed countless threes, and many times the rim entirely. To put it shortly, he looked like a freshman.

“What a difference a day makes,” Harris said. “Kingston Allen was unbelievable last night. He had 22 points in a big game against Coffee, Coffee’s good…He comes out tonight and he plays like a freshman. I don’t know if he was tired, could have been tired. He shot some airballs.”

Lowe came up with a pivotal steal with 10 seconds left, but he had four fouls and was scoreless on the night.

“Caden Lowe gives me a lot of energy. When he learns how to play under control a little bit more he’s gonna be on the floor a lot more, because he gives us some energy on the defensive end. Just all-out hustle. He wants it, but I got to get him to take care of the basketball a little bit better.”

Both players have earned a lot of praise from Harris, and obviously they’ve showed enough in practice and on the floor to continue to get big minutes. But they certainly faced some growing pains in a heartbreaking loss to Warner Robins.