Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009

Carter's record performance helps ONW boys serve notice

With a little more than two minutes remaining Tuesday night at Blue Valley, Olathe Northwest coach Mike Grove drew up the perfect sideline out-of-bounds play to free Xavier Carter for a layup.

The Ravens led by four at that point, and an easy bucket would have done wonders and perhaps iced a win in the Tigers' Den.

But Carter blew the layup. Grove half fainted, half collapsed into his chair.

Road-weary ONW is six games into an eight-game stretch of contests away from home, but the Ravens also sat at 6-5 entering play — one victory from the program's all-time single-season record for wins.

A win over a possible sub-state foe on its floor would do wonders for Northwest. Grove knew it, so it knew what the layup could mean.

To his credit, though, Carter, who played the game of his life, atoned with a defensive rebound and a driving layup 30 seconds later — part of a 13-3 Ravens run to start the fourth quarter on the way to a 50-41 win.

“We were hungry for a win,” said Carter, a senior, who scored a school-record 31 points. “We want to be the best team out there, and the first three minutes of a quarter like that have to be your best three minutes. We came out with some fire.”

Off an assist from senior Travis Ryan, junior Brennen Newton swished a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer, which lifted ONW to a one-point lead.

As halftime wound to its close, Newton returned the favor by finding Ryan alone on the right wing for another last-second 3 that again gave the Ravens a one-point edge.

It looked like it would be Northwest's night.

“Anytime you're up going into the half or even after the first quarter, it gives you some momentum, especially when you hit buzzer-beaters at the end of the quarter,” said Newton, who scored seven with six rebounds and a team-high four assists.

But Blue Valley had moved in front 35-33 by the end of the third quarter.

The Ravens responded by scoring the first nine points of the fourth quarter, six on baskets by Carter in addition to a 3-pointer by senior Patrick Downey off a Carter assist.

Staked to the lead, ONW relied on its defense, which held the Tigers to 29 percent shooting, and Newton's free-throw shooting down the stretch.

It was the Ravens' fourth road win during the six-game stretch so far and also put the Tigers on notice with respect to the postseason.

“If you're a good road team, you're a pretty doggone tough team, so this speaks a lot to our toughness tonight,” Grove said.

ONW neutralized Blue Valley's size advantage by spreading the floor and aggressively attacking the rim.

“They like to switch screens and jump passing lanes, but we wanted to spread them out, make cuts and move them to see how hard they wanted to guard,” Grove said.

The answer was not hard enough, especially considering the 15-for-20 shooting display put on by Carter, who actually missed his first two attempts from the field before heating up.

It was the 6-foot senior's first 30-point game at any level. That it came in such a momentous win made it even sweeter.

“I'm not putting such a premium on the number right now as much as we're just trying to find a way to win the next basketball game,” Grove said. “We're 7-5 with eight games to go, but we just want to keep getting better.”

OLATHE NORTHWEST 50, BLUE VALLEY 41

Olathe Northwest (7-5): Travis Ryan 1-2 1-2 4, Brennen Newton 1-4 4-5 7, Patrick Downey 1-3 1-2 4, Jake Leopold 2-6 0-0 4, Xavier Carter 15-20 1-4 31, Austin Fisher 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Dunsing 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Bandy 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Lemke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-37 7-13 50.

Blue Valley (6-6): Josh Wormington 1-9 0-2 3, Ryan Magdziarz 5-9 3-4 16, Spencer Hurst 2-9 0-0 6, Tyler VanGerpen 4-15 0-0 10, Tom Roudebush 1-5 2-2 4, Austin Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Will Kerdolff 1-1 0-0 2, Anthony Abenoja 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-49 5-8 41.

ONW 9 13 11 17 — 50

BV 8 13 14 6 — 41

Three-point goals: ONW 3-7 (Downey 1-1, Ryan 1-1, Newton 1-3, Leopold 0-2), BV 8-30 (Magdziarz 3-7, Hurst 2-7, VanGerpen 2-10, Wormington 1-5, Smith 0-1). Rebounds: ONW 28 (Carter 7), BV 28 (Wormington 8). Assists: ONW 12 (Newton 4), BV 11 (Wormington 6). Turnovers: ONW 10, BV 8.