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Boys basketball: Whitear cans late 3, Northridge rallies from 15 down to beat Bonneville

By Bob Judson - Special to the Standard-Examiner | Feb 3, 2023
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Northridge's Bentley Whitear (2) goes to shoot as Bonneville's Zac Combe (5) tries to contest on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Ben Tesch (3) tries to face up against Northridge's Peyton Perkins on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Northridge's Logan Birt (0) drives against Bonneville's Ben Tesch on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Nathan Burdett (12) passes around a Northridge defender on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Northridge's Peyton Perkins drives up the floor as Bonneville's Nathan Burdett (12) attempts to gives chase on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Nick Sebehar dribbles against Northridge on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Northridge's Peyton Perkins surveys the floor against Bonneville on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Judd Fawbush shoots against Northridge on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Ben Tesch (3) drives against Northridge's Logan Birt (0) on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.
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Bonneville's Nathan Burdett looks to pass over Northridge's Caden Christensen (12) on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Washington Terrace.

WASHINGTON TERRACE — In a riveting game of runs Friday night, Northridge High boys basketball had one more in the tank than Bonneville did.

Northridge also had junior guard Bentley Whitear.

Whitear knocked down a contested 3-point basket with 3.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter, giving the Knights their only lead of the game as they captured a come-from-behind Region 5 thriller by nipping the Lakers 47-45.

The winning bucket came on a busted play after Northridge, trailing 45-44, called timeout with 23.1 seconds remaining to set up a shot.

“The play we called kind of got messed up … I think it was supposed to go to De’Qoune (Kennedy), our big guy down low, because we were only down one. But it wasn’t open, so we had to kind of scramble a little bit,” Whitear said. “None of us panicked; every day in practice we go over certain situations that might happen. My teammate made a good kickout for me and I just let it fire; I wasn’t thinking too much about it.”

Whitear only scored six points but, in this case, timing was everything.

“It wasn’t my greatest game, but you gotta keep your head up, keep going. Be there for your teammates and then you get the big moment,” Whitear said.

Bonneville (6-11, 2-4 Region 5) blew the doors off early, racing to an 11-0 lead before Northridge got on the board with 1:08 left in the first quarter on a driving layup by Logan Birt.

Nate Burdett nailed a pair of treys in the quarter, scored 11 points at the half and 13 in the game for the Lakers. Bonneville was up big, 13-2, after one period.

“It’s not easy. We’ve been harping all season on starting off strong; we didn’t do it,” Whitear said. “You just have to chip away slowly and we did. We needed one more run than them to get it back.”

So, in the theme of the night, Northridge (7-10, 2-4) rallied with a 14-5 spurt closing the gap to 18-16 midway through the second stanza on a 3-pointer by Peyton Perkins.

Reversing course yet again, the Lakers countered with a 14-1 run and had a 15-point lead (32-17) at the break.

Judd Fawbush came off the bench and splashed home two 3-pointers in the last three minutes of the half for Bonneville, making four 3s on the night and finishing with 12 points.

“They told us we’ve gotta calm down, don’t push the panic button. We were getting out-toughed in the first half, but we came back and outhustled them and played as hard as we could,” Whitear said.

Then Northridge kicked it into overdrive, outscoring Bonneville 15-8 in the third quarter and closing the gap to 40-32 heading into the final frame.

Perkins made two more 3-pointers in the last 3:28 for the Knights, making it a trio for the game, and scored nine points overall.

Northridge opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 burst and finally chased down Bonneville at 42-42 on a 3 by Caden Christensen with 3:33 left in the game. Christensen had a team-high 11 points.

“Play by play. You can’t score eight points in one shot … you’ve gotta score four different baskets to get it back,” Whitear added.

Joshua Kitchen rounded out a balanced Northridge attack with nine points.

Fawbush added his final 3-pointer at the 3:07 mark, giving Bonneville a 45-42 lead, but then the Lakers went dry and didn’t score another point the rest of the game.

“Our coach said you gotta play hard; we knew what was coming. They ran the same three sets all game, so we were ready for that,” Whitear said.

Kennedy worked inside for a basket with 2:12 left and the teams traded turnovers and timeouts until Whitear’s winner.

Bo Dixon’s desperation, half-court shot at the buzzer barely missed going in for Bonneville. Dixon scored nine points on the night.

Northridge won the fourth quarter 15-5, capping the comeback.

Bonneville coach Kyle Bullinger did not think his team let up even though it lost the big lead from the half.

“I’m really proud of the effort our kids played with; no coach can be disappointed in their team when they play that hard,” Bullinger said. “We came out in the third quarter and our kids did a great job of executing our offense. We’re struggling to finish baskets. When you combine that with playing defense away from our bench, the energy has to come from the players on the floor.

“But a lot of credit has to go to Northridge and the way they responded and shot the ball from the 3-point line in the second half,” Bullinger said. “We just have to find a way to correct our third quarter; to see a couple of balls go in on offense and that will catalyze our defense a little bit more.”

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