Northridge sophomore Keonte Smith got loose for a pair of dunks and scored a game-high 20 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Jeff Gilbert)
Northridge Sophomore star Keonte Smith scored 20 points and had plenty of help as the Polar Bears sped up Troy Christian and handed the Eagles their first loss of the year.
Dayton, OH – Ray Zawadzki’s week of basketball resembles finals week at the end of a difficult semester. His Troy Christian Eagles, rated No. 9 this week by MaxPreps in Division VI, will find out just how much they learned in December.
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Tuesday’s test featured Northridge, ranked No. 11 in Division IV and likely rising. Friday’s test stays in the Three Rivers Conference at home against unbeaten Lehman Catholic, ranked No. 4 in Division VII. Saturday’s final exam sends the Eagles on the road against another unbeaten, Division VI No. 2 Tri-Village of the Western Ohio Athletic Conference.
The first 32-minute test didn’t go as well as the Eagles hoped. But they hope they learned a lot they can apply to their next tests. And Zawadzki hopes he can learn a lot from his video review of the game for the next time his team plays Northridge on February 6.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
The Polar Bears gave the Eagles an icy greeting Tuesday night and their first loss, jumping out to a 14-point first-quarter lead and cruising to a 65-43 victory.
“They’re very good basketball team,” Zawadzki said. “They’re built where they can score inside and they can score outside. They were able to basically do that at will today.”
Jeff Lisath’s experienced team is led by 6-foot-5 sophomore guard Keonte Smith, a four-star recruit who has been in contact with Ohio State, Purdue and Dayton. He scored 20 points and is the first player the Eagles had to deal with every time they had to navigate Northridge’s zone press.
“Obviously, a great D1 talent,” Zawadzki said. “Good for Northridge, great for the Dayton area that we have a D1 top player like that. He’s going to be special at the next level.”
The Polar Bears, however, are far from a one-man show. Smith scored six points in the first quarter, but he had plenty of help building the lead. His brother, senior Deonte Smith, finished with 13 points and Will Perry scored 14.
Troy Christian’s Austin Stangel and his teammates felt the defensive pressure all over the court from Northridge.
“You can’t spend all your assets trying to stop Keonte because then there’s others that will hurt you just as bad,” Zawadzki said. “That’s what makes them a top 10 team in the state. I told somebody before the game that what I like about this group for Northridge is they move the ball better than any group in the last four years that we’ve been playing. They’re very hard to defend.”
The Eagles (8-1, 5-1) scored first in the second quarter. But the hope of a comeback was washed away in less than a minute. Deonte Smith scored consecutive baskets on offensive rebounds. Then Keonte Smith scored twice off Troy Christian turnovers against Northridge’s press. Zawadzki immediately called timeout, but the damage was done with a 29-9 deficit.
Northridge (9-1, 5-0) led by 19 entering the fourth quarter and led by as many as 24.
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“When we started getting down, the pressure that they were putting on us built up, and we felt like we had to score 10 points in one possession,” Zawadzki said. “We started rushing shots. And that snowball just kept going and building for them.”
The key for the Eagles is to prepare to stay under control against Lehman and Tri-Village.
Troy Christian leading scorer Riston Taylor had to hunt for shots more than usual against Northridge’s aggressive defense and scored 14 points.
“I told the kids there’s a lot to learn from this,” Zawadzki said. “You can’t let a good team get on a roll, and we did a bad job of that tonight.”
Sophomore guard Austin Stangel led the Eagles with 18 points. Leading scorer Riston Taylor scored 14, held seven below his average.
“You can’t shoot out of rhythm, especially when you’re a shooting team,” Zawadzki said. “You’ve got to be in that rhythm, and they did a good job of just making us play at a speed that we aren’t used to playing at.”
Northridge coach Jeff Lisath wanted his team to share the ball better this season, and it was a topic of discussion this past summer. So he designed drills that ensured everyone touched the ball. It’s working. But that’s not the only thing he likes about his team.
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“I like the aggression,” he said. “I like how they play together, and they work extremely hard in practice, which is a coach’s dream. We struggled early in the season from the free-throw line. We’ve kind of shored that up. So we’re in a good space right now. We just got to keep it up.”
Sharing the ball and the number of players who can score means defenses can’t put too much focus on Keonte Smith, who is averaging close to 18 points a game. And Lisath likes the way his sophomore shows leadership and maturity.
“You see things are going bad offensively and he wants to be the one that takes the shot,” Lisath said. “If someone is lighting us up, he wants to be the one to guard them. I definitely like that attitude, especially for a sophomore.”
Seniors Deonte Smith and Dorryen Davis are four-year starters. Perry, another senior, transferred from Spire Academy. But it was Keonte Smith who showed leadership in the summer, getting his teammates to the gym. No more taking a backseat to last year’s senior class.
“They follow his lead,” Lisath said. “And one of the things that I tell him is I know that’s pressure on a sophomore. But welcome it, just lead by example and do the right things.”
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