Northville Boys Basketball Falls to Plymouth 54-53

—Submitted by Bob Lasley

The Northville boys varsity basketball team lost an overtime heartbreaker on the road to the Plymouth Wildcats 54-53 Friday night. The first quarter, which ended with a 10-9 Plymouth advantage, was marked by turnovers and missed shots by both teams. The Mustangs’ trapping defenses kept Plymouth offguard, but Northville’s offense appeared to be out of sync due to the loss of their senior starting point guard, Alec Lasley, who injured his knee in a Tuesday night loss at Walled Lake Central. The action picked up in the second quarter, and Stewart Henzi’s basket off his offensive rebound just prior to the buzzer sent the Mustangs to the locker room with a 24-22 lead. Andrew Meacham scored 12
first half points and Henzi corralled 4 rebounds.

The third quarter remained tight with Plymouth taking the lead on 3 separate occasions as a result of three point fields. Northville regained the lead 36-35 at the end of the quarter. With approximately 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter the Wildcats took their largest lead of the game at 43-39. Two Meacham free throws and a Jake Hanson three pointer regained the lead for Northville at the 2:58 time point, before Plymouth regained the lead with another three pointer. Plymouth missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw attempt, and after a timeout by Coach Todd Sander, Hanson scored with 24 seconds left to forge a 46-46 tie. Junior Dan Sims deflected a Plymouth pass with 2 seconds remaining to force overtime.

With Plymouth holding a one point lead at 1:51 of overtime Andrew Meacham was fouled going for an offensive rebound, and following a technical foul by a Wildcat player, he hit 3 of the 4 free throws for a 51-49 lead. Northville retained possession of the ball and took a 53-49 lead on two more Meacham free throws, but Plymouth tied the game at 53 with 54.5 seconds remaining. The last seconds of the game were marked by missed opportunities for both teams, but Plymouth pulled out the win by hitting 1 of 2 free throws with 15.6 seconds remaining.

Andrew Meacham led the Mustangs with 24 points and Stewart Henzi added 13. The Mustangs next game is Tuesday, Dec. 18 at home against Canton.