4 best players from Northpoint’s win over Lausanne
In a back-and-forth affair, Northpoint Christian School outlasted Lausanne, 59-57, to avenge its loss to the Lynx earlier this season.
This was a game of runs as both teams put together short surges of offensive power, but the Trojans made plays late to come away with the win.
Here are the four best players from Northpoint’s win over Lausanne.
Christian Gilliland: The freshman guard had a quiet first half, but put his imprint on the game in the second half, scoring 11 of his team-high 17 points in the final 16 minutes. Gilliland did a great job of getting into the lane and making one-handed floaters. The 6-foot-2 combo guard can shift gears in transition and knows how to finish at the rim. Gilliland went 3 for 4 from the free throw line.
Darius Naylor: Naylor carried the Trojans’ offense early on, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first 16 minutes. Naylor had putbacks, knocked down mid-range shots over smaller defenders and took advantage of the one-on-one situations his head coach Ryan Richardson placed him in. Whatever type of shot Naylor wanted, he was able to get.
J.B. Chapman: Chapman made the biggest shot of the night, a 3 from the right wing in the waning seconds that put the Trojans up for good. His 3-point shot came when the Lynx were up 57-55 following two made foul shots by junior point guard Hayden Ledbetter. Chapman followed through on his 3-point attempt and had enough air on it to fall. After the shot swoosh through the net, the home crowd chanted “J.B., J.B., J.B.!” Yeah, it was that kind of night for him.
Mitchell Wright: The big man only had six points, but he had a couple of big blocks down the stretch. He recorded one point on freshman forward Trevor Anthony and another one on sophomore guard Langston Rogers.
2-3 zone
Northpoint sat in a 2-3 zone all game, forcing Lausanne to make shots from the perimeter. The Trojans definitely keyed in on Ledbetter, who torched them with 21 points in a double-overtime win in the first meeting. He was held to 13 points.
Sophomore guard AJ Dillworth had a lot of nice looks from the corner while Northpoint sat comfortably in its 2-3 zone but the 5-9 guard couldn’t make shots. Dillworth’s inability to make 3s hindered his team’s ability to steal one on the road.
The Lynx held a 51-45 lead after the third quarter before Northpoint went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Lausanne used a 6-0 run to take a two-point lead, setting up Chapman’s dagger.