Dark Knight for the Rockets; Northern shoots its way to first-round win.

February 17, 2011

Person High School


 The Northern Knights didn't exactly enter Tuesday night's opening round of the PAC-6 Tournament as a team on a roll. In fact, it was completely the opposite.
 The Knights, under former longtime Rocket head coach Ronnie Russell, were on a four-game conference losing skid and had not looked very good in falling from second to fifth place in the PAC-6 over that span, a streak that culminated in last Friday's 15-point defeat at the hands of last place Hillside.
 But on Tuesday, the Knights magicall turned back into the squad that was challenging for the league title earlier this season and downed the fourth-seeded Person Rockets, 82-68, at Rocket Gymnasium.
 Kibari Wiley was the story on offense for the Kinghts, as he buried seven 3-pointers by shooting 7-of-11 from beyond the arc and finishing with a game high 25 points. Quincy Drye also had a strong offensive game with 19 points but guard Matthew Redic was the unsung hero.
Perhaps the biggest key to Northern's victory was its ability to handle Person's trap defense and find open teamates. Redic had the ball in his possession much of the time and, more often than not, he made good decisions with his passes and waws able to maneuver his way through Rocket defenders.
 "They were able to make the extra pass and we didn't do a good job trapping [Redic] all night," said Person head coach Charles Dacus, whose team dropped to 15-8 overall. "We allowed him to split our double teams, and once we let him do that he just had his pick of who he wanted to pass it to."
See Wednesday' The Courier=Times to read the complete story.