Lumen watches 21-point lead slip away, hangs on to beat Northwest for first victory
By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Jackson – A 21-point lead had evaporated into thin air.
And now, with less than two seconds remaining in regulation, Lumen Christi boys basketball coach Pat Neville stood helplessly on the sideline watching a potential game-clinching shot sail through the air.
He stood, he watched, and after the final buzzer mercifully sounded, he forced a smile.
“Its always a nice thing to get a win,” Neville said following Friday night’s 58-56 home victory against Northwest. The Titans led 39-18 at halftime. “The thing is, you want to build on these. I think sometimes you come into a gym and you have a win, but people may think the way we played in the second half, it’s a loss. But the in the final line, a win is a win.”
Barely, but true.
Despite dominating the first 16 minutes of the game and leading by 21 at the halftime break, the Titans were plagued by sloppy play, turnovers, foul trouble, a pair of technicals and a Northwest team making a ferocious comeback.
Lumen was bailed out by a Lloyd Foust put back with 8.1 seconds remaining that broke 56-56 tie.
“It was a great first half where we were running the floor. We were sharing the ball,” Neville said. The win was his first as coach with the Titans. “Then I thought in the second half we got selfish. (Northwest) started making shots, and we got into huge foul trouble.”
“That was fun. It was exciting,” Northwest coach Justin Brown of the way his guys battled back. “To see them believe in themselves was awesome. For them to realize they can do this was exciting.”
Both teams entered the game winless on the young season and looking for something to spark momentum heading into a lengthy holiday break.
Neither was especially sharp in the early stages, but Lumen soon began to establish itself, and with Nolan Crowley connecting from the outside and Zaylen Moore dashing inside, the Titans built a 15-8 lead after the first quarter and the 38-19 advantage by halftime.
And then everything changed.
“I haven’t yelled at my team in a long time,” Brown said with a small smile. “I thought we played as individuals the whole first half. In the second half, we came together. We were a unit. We had all five guys working together.”
Curtis Glaspie, the Mounties’ leading scorer through two games, was held to just four points in the first half, but came alive in the third quarter, hitting a pair of three-pointers while Northwest went on a 16-5 run in the frame.
The Titans’ lead was down to 45-34 entering the fourth, and slowly dwindled after that.
Late in the fourth, Moore was whistled for a technical after slamming the ball to the court in frustration — Lumen was called for an illegal-substitution technical earlier in the game after briefly playing with six guys on the court — and Northwest took advantage, eventually evening the score at 56-56.
Moore made up for the technical with a shifty drive in the lane on Lumen’s final possession, which eventually led to Foust’s easy lay in.
Northwest called timeout with 8.1 seconds remaining, and drew up a play to go for the win.
Michael Norris, who just moments earlier that drilled a deep three-pointer, got an open look with two seconds left from behind the arc, but missed with a shot too strong from the wing.
“We tell our big kids to run to the rim,” Neville said. “That’s how Foust got the easy put back.”
Asked what was going through his mind as the final shot went up, Neville smiled again.
“Thank God Glaspie wasn’t shooting it,” he said of the Northwest guard who finished with 20 points to lead all scorers. “When we came out of that time out, we wanted anyone but Glaspie shooting.”
Moore led the Titans in scoring with 18 points, 17 of which came in the first half.
Crowley added 11 points, while John Brys came off the bench and scored nine while pulling down eight rebounds.
Lumen, now 1-3, is off until Jan. 5 when it makes the trip to Jackson High.
Donovan Boyd scored nine for Northwest, while Norris scored all nine of his points in the second half.
The Mounties (0-4) are off until Jan. 8 when they play host to Coldwater.
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.