by Jeff “JP” Miklovic
The North Baltimore High School Tiger Boys Basketball team hosted Pandora – Gilboa in a Blanchard Valley Conference game Friday evening to a goodly sized crowd.
The Rockets (2 – 13, 2 – 3 BVC) travel well and brought a nice crowd to cheer a line up which featured several freshman in the starting line-up. But make no mistake, after 14 games in the season, these youngsters are figuring the game out. It took the veteran Tiger team the better part of three quarters to build a nice lead that they had to battle to hang onto until the end, winning 61 – 46.
Tied at the end of the first quarter 14 – 14, NB could only manage a 25 – 24 lead at the half, as they shot poorly and were sloppy with the ball. NB’s Coach “K” may have lit the troops up at half-time, as the Tigers game out with a much stronger attack and took a commanding 43 – 33 lead into the final quarter. The Rockets tried to scrape their way back into the game, but NB finally finished them off for a solid win.
The Tigers improve to 4 – 3 in the BVC and 8 – 6 overall, led again by the big man inside,6′ 7″ Chad Wright, who hit for 16 points in a lackluster offensive performance, however, the junior is playing smarter and tougher “D” in the paint, with 13 rebounds and 7 blocked shots, while limiting his fouls.
Senior Levi Newcomer had his strongest game hitting for 18 points (four – “3’s”) to lead all scorers, he added 3 assists and a steal and a very solid defensive effort. Sean Watson had 9 points; Noah Brian scored 7 points; Derek McMahon hit for 6; Lane Bishop scored 3 points, snagged 7 rebounds and dished for five assists; Jacob Pelton scored a bucket for 2 and had several quality minutes off the bench, along with Christian Richmond, in support of a winning team effort.
Drew Johnson led P- G with 14 points. Ryan Lee hit for 10 points.
NB won the Junior Varsity game 48-23.
We’ll be adding some photos, please check back later! (gotta go get some supplies for the big storm!)
photos by JP Miklovic
5 Responses
listen I think your not going to make everyone happy, I am just glad we have the nbxpress for info. Please don’t take this the wrong way to the people commenting on this. There are several times I know people write in and it doesn’t even get posted so I don’t buy into what mrs kloepfer is saying. I would rather read opinions that be totally censored and nothing put up. I happen to like the opinions they are truthful.
NBXpress–I think you’ve found the volunteer sports writer you have been looking for…
Great statement about this program. .
these boys are giving 110% and should be given a big who we for the effort they are paying with..
After reading the recap of last night’s game and ones previous to this, I found myself finally sitting down at the computer to respond to what I feel has been lukewarm and many times even questionable support of the NB Boys basketball team this season from the writer(s) of this ‘paper’. I know that many, including myself, appreciate the valuable information and updates found on this forum, and because of the nature of the forum, opinions may creep in more so than in a traditional paper. That’s fine—that is the nice thing about these types of forums and the fact that living in the United States allows each of us to not only have ideas but to present them on forums such as this. However, it also gives others the chance to respond and possibly present alternative viewpoints, and that is what I have decided to do. We can agree to disagree, and again, that is fine with me. Kudos to the beauty of exercising the freedoms of our society.
My question and subsequent dilemma is this: week after week I read about ‘sub par performances by (you choose to name specific players; I do not, and do not feel that doing that is necessary at all, and can many times even be irresponsible journalism. These are kids, and while I am not at all someone who tells a child ‘good job’ when in fact he or she may not have done things well at all, I do try to focus on the positives the players did accomplish and then teach and coach them in a much more productive environment rather than have the player read a bunch of negativity about himself or herself, quite possibly alone with a computer screen, and then take the chance that that teenager is secure enough and emotionally stable enough to handle outside criticism written on a forum for all of his or her family and friends to read–too many kids choosing permanent solutions to temporary issues these days, and I would not want to contribute to that statistic in any way).
This is what perplexes me: the basketball program has had a number of down years recently, for whatever reason. I don’t need to discuss why–the fact is that the talent level, participation, and overall records have not been where people would have liked. Bring in a number of individuals working with players at all levels, including all the way down through elementary school (with parents stepping up and coaching their kids and those teams) all the way through Mr. Eichar and many others sacrificing and contributing a lot of time, sweat, tears, and finances to get more players involved and provide them with opportunities to not only raise their skill levels, but to learn how to work together, and to truly understand the concepts of teamwork and sportsmanship. The numbers of young men playing the game have increased, their skill levels have increased, the overall attitude and disposition of the players has improved tremendously (which has almost always been a knock on NB athletes), and as a result, the records are steadily improving. The community is really getting excited about what’s happening at ‘Who We” Nation, with basketball building on the some of the hard work and successes realized by the fall sports programs. As someone who moved to the area and raised my older kids in the town, relocated our home but still has many ties to the town, and who now enjoys coming back and seeing these boys working so hard and really seeing what it is like to be successful on the court after so many years of bumpy roads, it just makes me sad to see that the one forum most closely associated with the town, the school, and the teams consistently knocks this program, its players, and its staff.
Was the NB center’s performance a 20-something point game? No. BUT–the cool thing is that others stepped forward in the scoring area and picked up the slack. That’s what good teams do. His teammates realized that PG was doubling him and being very physical at times in the post, and they needed to not only look for and hit their shots, but they also needed to be heads-up for a pass coming from him when he did get bottled up, leading to one of several assists this player had last night. They also knew that he may need encouragement because he was playing through a very painful toe injury (he was wearing my son’s shoes last night, not to make a some statement playing in baby blue sneakers, but so that the injury had additional space because those shoes are a size bigger and provided the additional room he needed in order to play last night. This player not 100% was better than not having him at all, especially defensively where he makes his presence known through blocked and altered shots , something the writer of this forum did take the time to note only after pointing out his lackluster (slightly lower than normal) offensive numbers.
Hats off to PG, because those who have been playing in the BVC for awhile realize that their program has been down for a number of years after being a pretty strong presence in the conference. They are young and talented, and those kids will definitely make their marks on PG basketball if they continue to work hard and improve. However, in reality, they were not that much less experienced than our players were. A large number of our current players have some but not a lot of varsity experience. None of them have experience with the grind of constant Friday/Saturday match-ups (gender equity scheduling does not exist in this league–boys do not play on Thursdays, etc) and the overall physical play of the BVC, although NB has played some of the teams in the BVC as non-league matchups in the past. PG did start and play a number of freshmen, and again, I say hats off to them as it is very apparent that they too have had people working with players in the younger ranks to rebuild what had been a very respectable program. Those players were not super-inexperienced freshmen who have not played much ball before. They were quick, physical, and had some very nice skill sets, and I wish them well because they will be fun to watch as the progress through their HS years. In contrast, some of our players have had to play at younger ages, but really did not have that same type of background and skill development, so while they may have time at the varsity level, they would not have necessarily played a lot of varsity with a more established program.
Until now, that is. Many of these kids are putting in the time it takes to really raise their game, to see that success not only personally but, even more importantly, as a team. They are unselfish, hard-working kids. Over and over again this season, officials, players, and fans from other schools have commented on how well-behaved our young men are, and what a nice team we have. Many of those people seemed genuinely surprised when they see our kids and officiated or watch their games, evidently having ‘heard’ about the reputation of kids from NB. Even with the incident last week at Hopewell, our kids, originally blamed in the Advertiser Tribune, were exonerated by the tape that HL has and the letter that the HL administration sent over apologizing for their player’s irresponsible assault and behavior.
These are things that the team, the families, the school, the community, and yes, this forum, should be excited about. These boys (Freshmen, JV and Varsity–the freshmen are improving each game, and JV team has really been coming on strong with a number of wins lately) are riding a nice wining streak right now. Even in most of their losses, they played tough teams down to the wire. That’s honestly part of the problem with a program that hasn’t won consistently for awhile–they, from the staff down to the youngest groups of players, need to learn how to win, especially in those close games against tougher opponents. They are definitely making progress, though. They are not folding up their tents and giving up. They are hustling from beginning to end, even when their athleticism cannot get them beyond the other team’s skill level and established reputation. They are making improvements in virtually every area of the game, as evidenced by a much better free throw percentage last night and balanced scoring from a number of contributing players. This is exciting. This is what the school and the community has wanted to see. Now that it is happening, let’s get behind the boys and all those involved in the program and really encourage them to reach their full potential. Let’s cheer them on, showing the opposing teams that Who We Nation is for real. Let’s all get behind them, including the writer(s) of this forum, and make the second half of this season the most exciting part yet!
Thank you for allowing me to present my humble opinion. Go Tigers!
Nice win NB!