Northville Boys Basketball Beats Stevenson Again

—Submitted by Bob Lasley

Earlier this month, the Northville High School boys basketball team was coming off a double-digit loss to Salem when they faced Livonia Stevenson; they came away with 5-point win. Tuesday night the Mustangs were 4-days removed from a buzzer-beating loss to Salem when they once again were matched up with Livonia Stevenson, this time on the Spartans’ home court. The results were the same, as the Mustangs prevailed 59-53.

Northville led 7-0 more than halfway through the first period before Stevenson scored, and the quarter ended with the Mustangs leading 11-5. Northville did not shoot well (3-13), but they did grab 10 rebounds. The second quarter saw the Mustangs methodically go on a 9-2 run to increase their lead to 20-7. However, at that point the Mustangs encountered some difficulties corralling rebounds off missed Spartan free throws, and Stevenson retaliated with a 15-3 run of their own to reduce their deficit to 23-22. Andrew Stevens, after being fouled on a 3-point shot, hit 3 consecutive free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining to stretch the Mustang lead to 26-22 at the half.

Northville appeared to come out for the second half with more fire in their belly on both ends of the floor. Their zone defense was very active and on the offensive end they hit 4-5 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes of the third quarter to increase the lead to 14, 38-24. Stevenson hung close, primarily on the efforts of Josh Campbell, and they reduced the Northville lead to 45-37 at the end of the third period.

The fourth quarter was a mirror image of the third quarter as Northville built their lead as high as 15 at 57-42 before ball handling errors by the Mustangs allowed the Spartans to cut the final deficit to 59-53. Andrew Meacham lead the Mustangs with a double-double, 31 points and 12 rebounds. Josh Campbell led Livonia Stevenson with 36 points. The Mustangs look for revenge in their next game - a home rematch with Novi Friday, Feb. 1.