By Greg Keim
The Concord Minutemen played a great first half before having to hold to hold on for dear life in a 48-42 Northern Lakes Conference high school boys basketball win over the NorthWood Panthers Saturday night at Concord.
Concord started the game with a 10-0 run and went on to lead 12-5 after one period and 27-13 at halftime.
“We are becoming a team of two halves,” Concord coach Steve Austin said. “We came out with a lot of intensity and energy to begin the game. In the second half we looked like we didn’t have any energy.
“I could not be more pleased with the way we played in the first half. We will just have to learn from this and move on.”
NorthWood came out in the third period and drilled four 3-pointers, three of them by 5-11 junior Kyle Heckman.
“In the first half we turned the ball over too many times and we had quality looks at the basket that just would not go in.
“In the third period we took better care of the ball and started hitting some perimeter shots. Hitting from the outside helps we you are trying to make up a deficit on a team with Concord’s length.
“We have just got to get off to better starts, but I’m very proud of the way our kids came back.”
NorthWood trimmed the deficit to 41-34 by the end of the third.
Concord’s defense held 5-9 junior Michael Paul, 6-4 junior Cameron Williams and Heckerman scoreless in the opening half.
“Those were the three guys we had on the board that we needed to stop.” Austin said. “In the third we lost No. 20 (Heckaman) earlier a couple of times and that started NorthWood rolling.
“We told the kids at halftime that in the first five minutes of the third we could either bury them or let them back in the game.”
NorthWood pulled to within four points (44-40) with 3:04 left to play but that was a close as they could get.
Five-ten Concord senior Larone Smith’s layup up with 1:38 reaming made the score 46-40.
Smith then added two free throws at: 24 to push the lead back up to eight.
Smith, 6-0 Jordan Haitsma and 6-3 Doug Acker all made key plays down the stretch for Concord on “Senior Night.”
“We have some younger players, but the key to how well we do is the seniors,” Austin said. “They made some big plays at the end of the game. We are going to miss them next season.”
Smith tossed in 15 points to lead Concord. Six-foot junior Anthony Yoder added 11 and Acker nine.
Five-ten NorthWood senior David Zeltwanger scored 12 points, Heckaman nine and 5-11 sophomore Zac Coleman eight.
Zeltwanger was a force on the boards, grabbing seven rebounds (four in the fourth period).
“Zeltwanger had a great performance,” Wolfe said. “The combination of him and (5-11 senior) John Sittler at times make us a good rebounding team.”
