A couple “Golden Minutes” resulted in a treasured victory Friday night for the Goshen High School boys basketball Redskins at GHS.

Ryan Bartley, 6-0 senior, and Ethan Hussey, 6-2 junior, were catalysts as the Redskins escaped with a hard-fought 54-47 Northern Lakes Conference win over the NorthWood Panthers.

Combining the first and last minutes of the third quarter, the Redskins outscored the Panthers 12-2.

Goshen led, 22-20, at halftime and Hussey was scoreless up to that point.

But then he stole the ball, scored on a layup, was fouled and made the free throw for a 25-20 lead just 42 seconds into the period.

Moments later, 6-6 senior Nathan Stegelmann blocked a NorthWood shot. The ball went to Hussey who buried a ‘3’ from the left corner for a 28-20 Redskin command.

NorthWood battled back to within two points before Bartley hit 3-pointers at 0:19 and 0:01 for a 43-36 Goshen lead heading into the last eight minutes.

The Panthers never got within three during the fourth quarter, but the Redskins didn’t put it away until scoring four points in the final minute.

“NorthWood is a lot better team than their record indicates,” said Goshen coach Brian Bechtel. “With a player like (6-2 junior Skyler) Titus, they are hard to prepare for.

“I was proud how we took care of the ball at the end, playing with confidence. But, we could have hit our free throws a little better.”

NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe said, “I was proud of our effort and we did a lot of good things, other than getting a little stagnant on offense during the second quarter. We got shots we wanted, but didn’t always finish them.

“Our plans was to negate some of Goshen’s size inside. But, they showed their balance by hitting a bunch of 3-pointers and they got a great performance out of Bartley.”

The Redskins were 10-for-22 from 3-point land, led by Bartley’s 5-for-6.

He led Goshen (9-3) with 17 points while 6-2 junior Marshall Crawford scored 12 and Hussey eight. Both Stegelmann and Crawford had five rebounds and 6-1 senior Cam Snyder four.

Providing strong minutes off the bench were 5-10 senior Jordan Short, 5-10 senior Josh Randall and 6-1 senior Brad Sink. Randall hit a pair of 3-pointers and Short a ‘2’.

Titus led NorthWood with 19 points and 6-5 senior Aaron McDowell, with some nifty moves around the basket, scored 17. Both grabbed 10 rebounds as the Panthers won the board battle, 32-22.

Goshen had just seven turnovers in the game and NorthWood nine.

Bechtel said, “We did a decent job defending the perimeter, but they got too many ‘easiers’ down low, either scoring or drawing fouls. That’s something we will work on.

“There were three swings in this game. We shot the ball good at the start of the game, then there was that first minute of the second half and the last minute of the third quarter.

“That gave us confidence in that, playing with a lead, we did not get hesitant.

“NorthWood did a great job defending our post play by being very physical and we didn’t do a good job countering that. They were able to stop our dribble drives.

“But, we shot the basketball like we hadn’t in a few games. Our shooters came out of their shell. Bartley also played great defense and that helped propel his offensive game.”

Wolfe said, “Aaron McDowell in the second half was exceptional in the post and the credit goes to our guards for finding him. We tried to change the tempo in the third quarter by being more aggressive.

“Those crucial moments went Goshen’s way, but we had our chances.”

After NorthWood took a 3-0 lead, the Redskins scored eight straight. Both Titus of the Panthers and Crawford of GHS scored seven points in the period as NW took a 16-14 lead.

Neither team scored in the first 3:16 of the second quarter until Bartley hit a ‘3’ from the right corner. The Panthers went 6:02 without a field goal and Goshen led, 22-20, at halftime.

After falling behind 34-24 with 4:57 to go in the third quarter, NorthWood rallied to within 34-32 at the 2:07 mark.

Randall’s ‘3’ pushed Goshen’s lead to 46-36, starting the fourth quarter, but again NorthWood refused to fold. The Panthers got within three at 50-47 with 1:15 to go, but didn’t score again.

Snyder scored on a rebound and Hussey hit two free throws in the last minute for Goshen.

JV Still Unbeaten

Goshen’s junior varsity raised its record to 12-0 with a 37-31 win over the Panthers who dropped to 3-9.

Junior Scott Landis scored 12 points, junior Andrew Bowers eight and junior Brock Bender seven for the Redskins. Junior Derek Loucks tallied 13 and sophomore John Sittler nine for the Panthers.