NorthWood Basketball: Chargers Upset Panthers
ELKHART – A first-rate win Friday night earned Elkhart Memorial a share of second place in the final Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball standings.
The host Crimson Chargers stunned Class 3-A No. 3 NorthWood 59-52 in the league finale at North Side Gym.
Memorial finishes league play at 5-2, good for a second place tie with the Panthers.
The Chargers, who had lost two in a row and four of their last five prior to Friday night, got big games from sophomores Hank Smith and Trey Gallope in the huge win. Smith scored 16 points and Gallope had 15 to go with eight rebounds. Smith scored 14 of his points in the second half.
Jose Soto hit 4-4 free throws in the final 27 seconds to seal the win for Memorial. Soto finished with eight points and six assists.
Joe Smith scored 14 points for Memorial, which improves to 9-10 overall.
Memorial shots 19-26 from the free throw line, while NorthWood was just 7-8. The Chargers were 6-16 from distance and the Panthers went 3-14 from 3-point range.
NorthWood, whose previous loss was a 54-37 NLC setback at Warsaw, got 16 points from Vinny Miranda.
Luke Zurcher scored 13 points for the Panthers, who drop to 16-2 overall.
Warsaw beat Plymouth 51-40 Friday night to win the NLC title for the third straight year. The Tigers became the first team in league history to go 7-0 in conference play for three consecutive years.
NorthWood won the junior varsity game 40-32 to improve to 15-1 overall and finish 7-0 in league action. Matt Dutkowski led the JV Panthers with eight points.
Memorial hosts South Bend St. Joseph Tuesday night. NorthWood plays at Bethany Christian Saturday night.