Clicking in all phases of the game, Goshen High School’s boys basketball Redskins opened the Northern Lakes Conference season in impressive fashion Friday night.

Goshen overcame a sluggish start and put heavy clamps on the Northridge Raiders to notch a 36-26 victory over their neighboring rivals.

The Redskins held Northridge scoreless for a stretch of 10:48 through the middle portion of the game and outscored the Raiders 24-5 during a commanding and decisive run.

Carson Roberts, 6-1 junior, stepped into the scoring spotlight and led the Redskins with 11 points.

Taylor Kolbus, 6-7 senior star, was again brilliant around the basket with 10 points and 11 rebounds while drawing much attention from the Northridge defense.

Jake Speicher, 6-2 sophomore, had another solid outing with eight points and 6-2 sophomore Louis Kissinger scored five including a big 3-pointer early to help reverse the trend.

Also playing positive minutes for Goshen were 6-1 sophomore Warren Kay, 6-3 senior Jon Good, 5-10 senior Andrew Litwiller and 5-10 junior Ryan Getz.

It was an amazingly quick game with Northridge picking up the first foul 47 seconds before the end of the first quarter. Goshen did not have a foul until there were 37 seconds to go before halftime.

The victory levels Goshen’s record at 3-3 overall and the Redskins are right back in action at home tonight against another neighboring rival, the Fairfield Falcons.

Getting off to a good NLC start was pleasing for Redskin coach Brian Bechtel who said, “We struggled defensively in the first quarter, but made some adjustments and the kids responded well as they have in our recent games.

“We went to a matchup zone, just having to get Northridge out of its rhythm. They have some tremendous shooters on that team. We did a better job finding their shooters.

“Luke Davis (5-8 Raider junior) is so good off the dribble and our defense did a good job keeping him from finding the gaps.

“Obviously, Kolbus and Speicher have been there for us on offense. We challenged Carson Roberts to attack the basket and he did that. He is also a very good passer.

“Starting the second half with a seven-point lead, we knew Northridge would pressure us harder and our guys did a great job handling that. We weren’t perfect, but each game this team is starting to get it more.

“We won without really getting the ball inside to Kolbus a lot. Kissinger hit a big ‘3’ for us at a crucial time and Warren Kay did a good job taking care of the basketball.

“Northridge has a great program under Coach (Jason) Ridge and that’s one reason this is such a big victory for us.”

Malcolm Thurmond, 6-0 junior, led Northridge with eight points and all of those were in the first quarter. Gavin Blyly, 5-10 sophomore, tallied seven and four of those were late.

Coach Ridge said, “We struggled offensively because Goshen was playing so good on defense. We shot the ball well early, then Goshen really put the clamps on us.

“Their kids stay in good defensive position and then they have a player like Kolbus around the basket. He is a great player who is now demanding the ball around the basket.

“This is nothing new because Goshen has played good defense in all six of its game.

“Early on, we were moving the ball well and reversed it to get some open looks. When Goshen went to that zone, we started standing around.

“We are a young team and some times it’s younger players who bounce back quicker. There is no time to sit around and fell sorry for ourselves because we have some big games coming up.

“Actually, I thought Kolin Adams (6-0 junior) played some pretty good defense against Kolbus. But, Speicher and Roberts did a great job driving to the basket on us.”

The Raiders, 2-4, meet Concord at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the opening game of a holiday tournament at North Side Gym in Elkhart. Goshen and Memorial clash in Game 2 with the finals scheduled for Wednesday.

With Thurmond hitting a pair of ‘3s’ and Blyly one, Northridge flashed to a 13-6 lead with 2:08 to go in the opening quarter.

The Redskins outscored the Raiders, 12-0, in the second period and went 5-for-5 from the field. Kissinger and Roberts hit ‘3s’ while Kolbus contributed four points.

Kissinger’s two free throws started the second half and Northridge finally broke its drought when Adams scored underneath with 7:20 to go in the third quarter.

It was 24-18 going into the final eight minutes and the Raiders could get no closer. Roberts provided the clinching points with two drives down the middle.

Junior Varsity

The JV score was almost the same with Goshen winning 36-28 to leave both teams with 3-3 marks.

Freshman Jesse Good scored 14 points for GHS, sophomore Austin Shaffer nine, sophomore Casey Looker eight and junior Ryan Getz five.

Freshman Joey Ganyard netted 10 for NHS, junior Rick Nystrand seven, junior Alex Long four, sophomore Jordan Carithers three, sophomore Nick Mast and junior Adrian Zehr both two.