Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ATHENS — After Saturday, you can officially say that Northwest is penning history.
“Penning” is in the present tense because the Mohawks are still dancing.
Behind a double-double from both Connor Lintz and Tanner Bolin, Northwest (22-3) ousted top-seeded Wheelersburg by a 59-42 final in a Division III district final — a game in which the Mohawks led from start to finish — to win the program’s first-ever district championship.
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
“These kids have played their butts off all year long,” Northwest coach Rick Scarberry said. “We play aggressive and we pride ourselves on holding [opponents] in the 40-point range and we did that again tonight against a daggone good team. I’m just proud of our kids. I don’t think many people anticipated us to win. But they played their butts off.”
Lintz and Bolin opened the game with back-to-back 3’s before Lintz got a rebound and put back to fall, putting Northwest ahead — quickly — 8-2.
Wheelersburg’s Devon Lattimore was doing all of his team’s offensive work early as he opened with the Pirates’ first nine points. But Logan Wolfenbarker buried a triple to keep the Mohawks up 13-9 before they closed out the frame with an 18-14 lead.
After a track-meet pace in the first, both offenses slowed in the second. Meanwhile, the turnovers began to mount.
But it was the Pirates (20-5) who had issues taking care of the ball. They committed five turnovers in the frame, which helped the Mohawks win the quarter by a 9-4 margin, taking a 27-18 lead into halftime.
“We let [Wheelersburg] back in it for a minute but we never looked back,” Scarberry said. “We made some big shots early. [The win over] Portsmouth was just the opposite. We got behind and hit some shots. It gave us some cushion.”
Bolin opened the third with two free throws and a bucket off a rebound, extending the lead to 31-18. Later in the frame, Wheelersburg mounted a small rally with a 7-2 run behind Hunter Bevins and Lattimore to cut the deficit to 35-30.
But Lintz answered back with a personal 6-2 run, keeping the Mohawks up 41-32 heading to the fourth.
Eight minutes away from a district crown, Lintz wasn’t slowing down and scored twice more to push the lead back into double digits. From that point on, the Mohawks — behind Lintz and Bolin — pounded the nail in the coffin, penning school history and solidifying the program’s first-ever trip to the Sweet 16.
“Down the stretch, we ran our offense to a tee,” Scarberry said. “We got wide open looks and [Wheelersburg] was trying to trap. Our kids did a good job of recognizing that. The kids have played against these guys since they were little and they knew what was coming. I just couldn’t be more proud.”
“This just means so much to our school,” Scarberry said. “I don’t know how many tickets we sold tonight, but there couldn’t have been many people in McDermott. They were all here. We told the kids that. We told them to make their community proud. We’re just ecstatic we can bring home our first district championship.”
Statistically, Lintz finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Mohawks, while Bolin added 20 points and 11 rebounds.
For Wheelersburg, Lattimore finished with a double-double of 26 points and 10 rebounds.
While the Pirates’ season comes to an end, Northwest advances to a Division III regional semifinal at 6 p.m., Wednesday at Ohio University’s Convocation Center.
The Mohawks will match up against Malvern, who defeated Martins Ferry to win an East District championship and advance.
“We’ve got work to do now,” Scarberry said. “These games aren’t a week apart anymore. We’ve got a good team coming in here on Wednesday night and we’ve got to get started on [preparing for] them.”
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