COMEBACK WIN … Delta’s Luke Reinhard puts up a running one hander in the Panthers 49-36 win at North Central. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PIONEER (January 30, 2024) – At one time mama said, “Someday you’ll have to take the bad with the good.”
After having plenty of bad in the first half, Delta got a whole lot of good in the second including a 19-0 run in the fourth quarter to come back from a 12-point deficit to beat North Central 49-36.
“It’s something new to us,” Delta coach Matt Brighton said of the 19 straight points in the fourth. “It isn’t something we get to enjoy often.”
“It’s all about trying to find the right lineup for us. We had Tyson Bower get in there, Brady Morr, you know guys who don’t see the floor every night. They came in and they were ready for their moment, they did a nice job and stepped in when we needed them to.”
After seven minutes of which no one really could find the middle of the rim, Ethan Beard ripped a right-wing triple with 33 seconds left in the first to gain a 7-4 Eagle lead that North Central held for a long stretch.
That margin continued to grow in the second quarter with Gage Kidston being the key. Kidston scored a three-point play on a put back, then twice off transition, along with a feed inside from Cohen Meyers on another second chance hoop to vault the Eagles up 23-11 before settling for a 23-12 halftime lead.
Delta shot just 4/19 in the first half from the field, was a freezer-like 4/11 from the foul line and was outrebounded by a whopping 20-4 margin.
After Brighton’s halftime talk, those numbers would quickly make an almost complete 180. “I cannot repeat anything I said at halftime,” Brighton quipped.
“The main point was getting to our team that we are a good team. We can beat any team if we come out and play the way we know how.”
“They didn’t run anything that we haven’t seen before, we were prepared, we were ready to go and once that buzzer goes off and it’s ready to start the game, we have to be ready to go and we did not show that in the first half.”
Justin Ruple, Morr and Bower combined for 9/10 from the stripe in the third quarter and Alex York’s bucket with 3.4 seconds on the clock shaved what was once a double-digit disadvantage to a 30-27 deficit heading into the fourth.
Anton Hegler’s basket with 4:36 left put the Eagles up 34-30 but little did anyone know that was the last North Central points until the final horn.
During that time span, Delta rattled off six straight field goals off seven Eagle turnovers. A Jude Gibbons one-hander and York’s bucket from Ruple off the hi-low set tied the game with 3:49 left, before Luke Reinhard went coast-to-coast twice off steals to put Delta up for good.
Ruple found York on the same back cut off the hi-low game, then the senior guard scored on a drive from the left side to make it 42-34 with 2:05 to go.
From that point the Panthers canned 7/12 from the foul line to finish the burst. Ruple’s 13 points led all scorers. Reinhard had nine of his 11 in the fourth quarter.
After their polar like first half, Delta (10-5) was 10/15 from the floor in the second and hit 16/22 from the foul line.
North Central (6-10) was 5/22 from the field in the last two quarters and was guilty of 11 turnovers during that time. Beard’s 11 led North Central.
DELTA (49) – J. Ruple 13; T. Ruple 0; J. Gibbons 4; W. Gibbons 2; Reinhard 10; Morr 4; Bower 7; York 8; Hallett IV 1; Sargent 0; Brasher 0; Totals: 13-1-20 – 49
N. CENTRAL (36) – Douglass 0; Hegler 4; C. Meyers 8; Kidston 9; Whitley 2; Beard 11; Hicks 2; Pettit 0; T. Meyers 0; Totals: 12-3-3 – 36
DELTA 4 8 15 22 – 49
N. CENTRAL 7 16 7 6 – 36
JUNIOR VARSITY: Delta 46, North Central 17
