Northside Goes Overtime To Edge Knights 62-60 In 3A West Regional

Northside ball handler Kendrick Tucker looks for an opening in the scone half Monday night against Cave Spring defender Ty Albritton. Tucker had a game-high 26 points as the Vikings prevailed in overtime 62-60.
Northside ball handler Kendrick Tucker looks for an opening in the scone half Monday night against Cave Spring defender Ty Albritton. Tucker had a game-high 26 points as the Vikings prevailed in overtime 62-60.

Monday night’s 3A West regional playoff between the Northside Vikings and Cave Spring Knights had the makings of a heavyweight boxing match.

Toe-to-toe action with plenty of flurries by both competitors in front of a standing-room-only crowd in the Cave Spring gym.
In the end, Viking junior Kendrick Tucker got in the deciding blow, as Northside held on for the exciting 62-60 win in overtime to advance to Wednesday’s regional semifinal against Magna Vista.
The loss ended the season for Cave Spring.
“You can’t top this,” Northside head coach Billy Pope said outside the Viking locker room. “It was an unbelievable high school game. We were really fortunate to win. In a game like this there are one or two plays that end up deciding it. Tonight, both teams were determined not to lose.”
“We played eight quarters (in the regular season) and one point separated us,” Pope added. “Tonight we win by two in overtime. How much closer can you get?”
Those two points on Monday came at the end from Tucker, the speedy guard who drove to the basket as Northside was holding for the last shot. His running left-hander fell through with 5.6 seconds left breaking a 60-all tie and leaving Cave Spring time for one last response.
The Knights advanced the ball to mid court where, after a timeout, Cave Spring went for the winner on a 3-pointer from the right corner by junior Brody Hicks. Brother Cager Hicks inbounded the ball, took a return pass and fired to Brody deep in the corner.
Brody, tightly guarded by Tucker, got off a jumper that bounded off the rime as the buzzer sounded.
The Viking faithful stormed the court in a raucous celebration.
“We played a pure man-to-man,” Pope noted of the final play. “We were all over him and he still almost made it.”
Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse said the decision to go for the win with Brody was a no-brainer.
“Not another kid I want the ball in his hands than Brody Hicks,” Gruse said. “i’d put the ball in his hands 1,000 out of 1,000 times.”
“This was a championship caliber game among two heavyweights,” Gruse added. “I’m so proud of my guys. Northside is a very good ball club. Both teams were well-prepared.”
Things were close in the first half as Northside held an 8-point lead in the first quarter and five-point advantage in the second before Cave Spring closed to within 31-29 at the break.
The third quarter saw the Knights take a 36-31 lead on an Alex Emery trey, but Northside answered with a 15-1 run to put the Vikings up 46-37. The Knights scored the final 7 points of the quarter that sent the teams to the fourth with Northside up 46-44.
The Vikings led for all of the final frame until Knight senior Zac Foutz muscled his way to a 6-foot jumper in the paint with 1:22 left that knotted things at 54.
Northside held for the final shot and looked to get the winner on a 3-pointer by Tucker with three seconds left. But, Pope had called a timeout before the shot went up, negating the score.
“I felt sick,” Pope said with a chuckle. “But, I’d do it again. We were going backward to half-court on the play and I felt we could set up a better play.”
Both teams led in the overtime before Tucker got the game-winner.
Tucker led the Northside scoring with a game-high 26 points. Carlos Basham followed with 15 Viking points.
Cager Hicks pace the Knights with a team-high 15 points. Junior Mason Reyer added 14, with Brody Hicks and Foutz each netting 12 points.
Bill Turner

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