Mount Vernon News

Johnnies defeat rival Vikings, 44-37

JOHNSTOWN — There is a lot to celebrate for Johnstown sports. The boys golf team was honored for its 2006 State Championship prior to the Johnstown High School boys basketball game against Northridge on Friday night. The Johnnies added to the excitement by defeating the rival Vikings, 44-37.

“When you are struggling like we are, sometimes it’s hard to get the kids motivated,” said Johnstown head coach Joe Bline. “But when you’re playing your biggest rival, you don’t have to worry about that. Three out of our last four games, we should’ve won, and we finally got it done tonight.”

The battle between the two competitors began from the first whistle. Johnstown was first to score off of Will Beacom’s free throws for a two-point lead. The Vikings responded with a one made foul shot by Jonathan Johnson and then took the lead after Justin Dague drained a 3-pointer. The first quarter ended with the Johnnies ahead by just a single point, 8-7.

Northridge jumped out first in the second period with a jumper by Palmer Smith, but Johnstown stole the momentum. The Johnnies went on a nine-point run in the middle of the quarter. The Vikings attempted to close the eight-point gap as Smith drove to the basket twice and Johnson picked up four points. The half ended with Johnstown up by five, 22-17.

“Both teams played hard,” Northridge head coach Brent Cahill said. “Both teams in this game are always going to play hard. I thought they (Johnstown) won just a couple more of the effort plays.”

After the halftime break, Northridge was ready to fight back. Dague found Johnson down low for two points at the start of the third quarter, but Johnstown’s Blake Colopy released two back-to-back 3-pointers for a nine-point lead. The Vikings weren’t going to go down easily. Dague hit a shot from behind the arc, Justin Shaw put back an offensive board, Cory Mullins drained a 3-pointer and Shaw nailed a jumper all within three minutes of play to take the lead. At the end of the third quarter, the game was all tied up at 31.

“We were really working hard defensively,” said Johnson. “We just couldn’t get any shots to fall for us. It was just frustrating.”

The Johnnies grabbed some momentum at the start of the fourth. Beacom went up strong to the basket and scored while getting fouled for a three-point play. Cory Keesee came up with an offensive rebound and took it back up for two. Heath Harvey hit a 3-pointer with 5:16 left in the game to make the score 39-31. Chase Burke turned it around quickly for the Vikings by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers. Northridge couldn’t score after that, though, and the Johnnies finished off the game with free throws.

“Free-throws have been our crux all year,” said Bline. “It felt good to finally be able to hit them and put the game out of reach.”

Harvey went 4-of-5 from the line in the final seconds of the game and finished with 16 points and four rebounds. The Vikings turned the ball over 18 times and Johnstown only committed six turnovers.

“We only scored six points in the fourth quarter,” said Cahill. “It’s tough when you can’t put it in the hole. And I think a lot of it comes down to we turn it over, we don’t get shots. When you don’t get shots on the basket, you can’t score.”

Johnson led in scoring for Northridge with nine points and grabbed nine rebounds. Burke chipped in with eight points, Dague had seven with five assists.

Johnstown’s Colopy finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and three steals. Beacom contributed with nine points and Keesee had six.

Johnstown’s junior varsity also won, 42-38, over the Vikings. Cris Aleshire led the Johnnies with 11 points. Kurt Sammons and Jake Hollis each had nine. Northridge leader, Marcus Williams, had 10 points. Barry Roth added eight points, and Brett Vandervort chipped in with seven points.