IRVINE – The Northwood boys basketball team survived a late rally by Cypress to win, 58-55, Friday in a nonleague game at Northwood High.
The Timberwolves had a 13-point lead entering the fourth quarter and a nine-point lead with just over a minute remaining.
A basket from Marcus Swain and two late 3-pointers by Myles Jones cut Northwood’s lead to one. After a free throw by the Timberwolves, Jones missed a 3-pointer that would have given Cypress the lead with less than a second remaining.
“Our best players are small, strong and tough,” Northwood coach Tim O’Brien said. “We probably wore out a bit late, and they (Cypress) played well and didn’t quit.”
Cypress coach Derek Mitchell said he was “extremely proud” of his team despite a loss that dropped his team’s record to 3-3.
“They could have given up,” he said. “Senior leadership took over and wouldn’t let anybody quit.”
Northwood entered halftime with a 30-26 lead.
The Timberwolves (5-2) came out of halftime re-energized and went on an 11-0 run to open the half and kept Cypress off the scoreboard for nearly six minutes. After a timeout, Jonah Felix scored for the Centurions to end the run.
“We went to a zone and got mixed up. We didn’t find the shooters quick enough,” Mitchell said. “They (Northwood) try to push on every possession so we were running back into zone. We should have gone to man.”
The trio of Devin Owens, Jacob Huynh and Akshay Harishankar combined for 43 of Northwood’s points.
