North Cross knew coming in it needed some outside scoring to counter the Carlisle Chief’s dominance in the paint led by 7-ft. freshman Thon Maker.
Things looked good for North Cross for three quarters Saturday afternoon at the Jim Muscaro gym, before Carlisle took command with a 19-9 run in the final eight minutes to grab the 57-45 VIC win.
The Chiefs remained undefeated in conference play at 12-0 (16-1 overall), while North Cross, looking to avenge its only conference loss in early January in which it lost by three points to the Martinsville squad, fell to 10-2 (15-4).
North Cross came out strong, hitting a pair of early three-pointers and a short jumper to quickly take an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes. Carlisle gathered itself to cut the deficit to 25-24 at the halftime break.
The Chiefs kept pounding the ball inside and opened a 34-29 lead midway through the third frame. North Cross used a Keith Oddo 3-pointer from the left corner and a layup by Eddie Smith at the buzzer to close to 38-36 heading into the final 8 minutes.
Carlisle used a trey from Maker and a pair of breakaway scores to open 49-43 lead with 2:03 left. Chief Malcolm N’diaye provided the final dagger with a bomb from behind the arc that put Carlisle ahead 53-43.
“We were only down two at the end of the third,” North Cross head coach Bill Hodges noted afterward. “I really thought we were in great position and would win it.”
“In the final quarter we got rattled and turned the ball over” Hodges added. “With their height, you need the outside shot to fall. You just can’t take it to the hole. Even when we got it inside, we missed the shots.”
“Our guys hung in there and wouldn’t accept defeat,” Carlile head coach Jason Niblett said. “North Cross is a well-coached team, so we had to keep digging.”
When asked if the game plan in the final quarter was to go straight to the 7-foot Maker, Niblett nodded with a smile, “No question. Find a way to get it to the big man and feed off him. It worked and I’m ecstatic over the win.”
Oddo and Peter Agba shared the scoring lead for North Cross with 12 points each. Bennett Holley added 9 for the Raiders.
Maker had a game-high 20-point performance for Carlisle, while Kevin Cuesta added 17 points and Eric Johnson chipped in 10 for the Chiefs.
by Bill Turner