On Friday night the Independence men’s basketball team traveled to Northside Christian Academy to take part in the Queen City Classic Extravaganza where they faced off against the host team the Northside Knights.
Indy started the scoring on a Nygell Verdier basket to give Indy a 2-0 lead. With 4:40 remaining in the period, the score was tied at 7-7. After a Nygell Verdier basket, Jalen Hinton made the score 12-7 on a 3-pointer from the right side of the elbow. Omarion Bodrick and Nygell Verdier added baskets to make the score 16-11 with 2:04 left in the quarter. Jalen Hinton gave the Patriots a five point lead 18-13. However, with a minute left the Knights hit a baseline bucket and then capitalized on a Patriot turn over to make the score 18-17 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter the two teams continued their aggressive play and Indy with its trapping defense caused the Knights to turn the ball over. With 4:49 remaining in the first half, the Patriots opened up a nine point lead on an Anthony Allen 3-pointer and moved out to a 12-point lead on a jumper by Jalen Hinton.
With 2:40 to go, the Knight went on an 8-0 run cutting Indy’s lead to five 35-30. Before the period ended Anthony Allen went to the line hitting one-of-two shots to give the Patriots a 36-32 half time lead.
At the start of the second half, the Knights cut the score to two 36-34, but Indy’s Dee Givens got free under the basket scoring to give the Patriots a four point lead 38-34. At the four minute mark Jalen Hiinton buried a 3-pointer to put Indy up 47-41.
With 2:56 left in the third, Indy’s Omarion Bodrick was whistled for a technical foul. The Knights cut Indy’s lead to one point 47-46 with 1:13 left in the quarter. Nygell Verdier added a point from the charity stripe to make the score 48-46 as the teams headed into the final stanza.
As soon as the final period started, Indy was called for a foul. The Knights made one-of-two shots to make the score 48-47 with 7:48 left in the game. Anthony Allen hit a runner to make the score 50-47. Northside cut the score to one with 6:06 remaining. Indy’s Dee Givens went to the line to give the Patriots a 51-49 lead.
With 4:09 left in the game, Northside tied the score 51-51 with a jumper from the top of the key. Nygell Verdier put Indy back in the lead after grabbing an offensive rebound and making a stick back, 53-51 with 3:23 showing on the clock.
With one minute left in the game, Northside drained a 3-point shot and for the first time took the lead 54-53.
After a travel call against the Patriots, Indy came down with a defensive rebound and pushed the ball down the floor. With time running out Nygell Verdier took the ball to the basket. Northside hammered Nygell as he put up the shot. No call was made, but Nygell got the rebound and scored as the buzzer sounded.
Thinking they had won the game 55-54, there was mass confusion at the scorer’s table. After approximately ten minutes of trying to put time back on the clock, the officials finally agreed to placing 1.5 seconds back on the clock.
After that was completed, the officials had to be reminded to give the Patriots their points for the last basket. With the referees and scorer’s table finally in agreement, Northside had the ball out-of-bounds under Indy’s basket with 1.5 seconds to play.
Northside made a half court pass and a shot from mid court was no good and the Patriots took the 55-54 victory.
Senior Anthony Allen led the Patriots with 19 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Nygell Verdier added 17 points, pulled down 6 rebounds, had 5 assists and 4 steals. Jalen Hinton added 10 points, had 1 rebound and 3 steals. Omarion Bodrick scored 4 points, pulled down 5 rebounds and had 3 steals. Dee Givens added 3 points, grabbed 6 boards, had 1 assist and 2 steals. Landon King scored 2 points for the Patriots.
The Patriots are now 2-1 and will be back at the Queen City Classic Extravaganza Saturday evening to face a top sweet 16 team the 3-0 Davidson Day Patriots.
Northside Christian Academy 17 15 13  9 – 54
Independence    18 18 12  7 – 55
