Boys basketball: Victory eludes Highland against Norton

GRANGER TWP. — One could say the odds caught up to the inexperienced Highland boys basketball team after winning four tight games to begin the season. The blank stares and sunken heads of the players coming out of the locker room Tuesday said otherwise, because the Hornets felt they let a potential high-quality victory slip from their grasp. Undefeated small-ball specialist Norton was the beneficiary, as the fast, physical Panthers rode a strong start and escaped with a 59-54 non-league victory after making 6-of-8 free throws and surviving two potential overtime-forcing 3-point attempts in the final minute. "The most important thing was we didn't come out looking like the game meant as much to us as it should," Highland coach Tanner Houska said after a longer-than-usual postgame talk in the locker room. "It's not because we were going against an undefeated team or something like that, but we only have so many opportunities to do this. I didn't think we looked like we were ready to play, and it's definitely on the coaches to make sure we're ready to play." Highland (4-1), whose four wins are by a combined 18 points, was scoreless for the opening 3:54 before settling in and managing seven- and eight-point deficits for most of the first half. The Hornets rallied behind forward Joshua Butcher in the third quarter and played back and forth before Colin Goldie put them ahead 54-53 with 2:15 left, but the Panthers' Alex Meinen made two three throws just nine seconds later and Highland was shut out the rest of the way. There were plenty of chances. A driving layup didn't fall down 55-54, and first-team All-Ohio football player Buddy Willig of Norton (9-0) blocked a shot with the score 57-54. The Panthers, however, missed two free throws with 27.2 seconds left to set up the final sequence. Highland called timeout with 12.7 seconds left, and Jake Weber's step-back 3-pointer that featured a textbook pump fake went off back iron. Goldie grabbed the rebound and flipped to Carson Cope, whose 3-pointer barely grazed iron, and a bang-bang out-of-bounds call went against Highland after Weber tried to jump along the baseline and throw the ball off a Norton player. "(The Panthers) play extremely hard, and you can tell that they play together," Houska said. "They've got some guys who might be undersized as a group overall, but they're extremely scrappy, competitive and shoot the heck out of it. They share the ball nicely, and their coach (B.J. Sanderson) is doing a nice job getting them some open threes. They should have a pretty good year." Butcher was fantastic over the final three quarters and finished with team highs of 14 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Weber added 12 points and All-Ohio linebacker Jameson Gordon wowed the crowd with a spin-move layup that brought his season scoring total to six points, but the Hornets shot 3-for-15 in the first quarter and missed all seven of their 3-point attempts in the second half. Buoyed by Trey Kersten returning from Tallmadge and Meinen transferring in from Coventry, Norton, whose previous eight wins were by an average of 31.6 points, got 21 points from Meinen despite a 102-degree fever, 12 from Kersten and 10 from heady freshman guard Mason Ventura. The much smaller Panthers also only lost the rebounding battle 31-27, with five players sharing team honors with four. The officials allowed contact throughout, but that eventually led to emotional reactions from both teams when fouls were called as physical play increased. Houska, though, was disappointed with how his team handled the tone that was set early. "Two games in a row, I thought we've looked a little uninspired," he said. "That's disappointing, but we have a group of seniors who are competitors and I know we're going to bounce back. We just have to make sure we're ready to go from the start." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Norton 59, Highland 54 NORTON &emsp;&emsp;15 16 15 13 — 59 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;8 19 17 10 — 54 Norton — Mason Ventura 4-0-10, Isaac Hunter 3-2-8, Buddy Willig 1-0-2, Alex Meinen 8-5-22, Trey Kersten 5-0-12, Cortes Everett 1-1-3, Stone Hardy 1-0-2, Owen Gabriel 0-0-0, Jake Gabriel 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-8-59. Highland — Nick Dobkowski 3-0-8, Josh Butcher 5-4-14, Jameson Gordon 2-0-4, Conner Dean 2-0-5, Jake Weber 4-2-11, Carson Cope 0-1-1, Colin Goldie 3-0-6, Ashton Gleba 1-0-2, Jackson Robertson 1-0-3. TOTALS: 21-7-54. 3-point goals — Ventura 2, Kersten 2, Meinen, Dobkowski 2, Dean, Weber, Robertson. Rebounds — Norton 27 (Ventura, Hunter, Willig, Evertt, Hardy 4), Highland 31 (Butcher 11). Assists — Norton 8 (Hunter 5), Highland 10 (Butcher 4). Records — Norton (9-0), Highland (4-1). Junior varsity — Highland 49, Norton 36.