Raiders Battle Novinger to the End

By Marlana Smith

  The North Shelby Raiders hosted Novinger on Tuesday, January 6. Despite a hard-fought effort by the Raiders, they were unable to secure the win, losing 62-59.

  Novinger’s Caden Smith was first to get points on the board just 15 seconds into the game. North Shelby’s Kyle Smith fired back putting in a three-pointer after an inbound play. 

  “We had slow start and that really hurt us. They got up on us pretty quickly in the first quarter,” said North Shelby coach Landon Daniel.

  The Wildcats scored six points within three minutes allowing them to take an 8-3 lead. North Shelby’s Dayton Mettes went to the line and was one-for-two. Novinger’s Chris Sandstorm dropped in a three-pointer adding to the Wildcats lead, 11-4. 

  Despite the Raiders scoring seven more points in the quarter, Novinger maintained their lead 15-11.

  Sandstorm was sent to line just 17 seconds into the second quarter and was successful. Caden Smith later scored a bucket and was sent to the line, but not successful. The Wildcats led 19-11.

  With 6:41 on the clock, North Shelby’s Robert Uhlmeyer hit a three-pointer which allowed the Raiders to only be down, 19-14. Things started to shape up for NS as it made nine points to reach halftime. Novinger led 32-28.

  Kyle Smith started things in the third quarter scoring a three-pointer. Caden Smith fired back a minute later with a trey giving the Wildcats a four-point advantage, 35-31. 

  With a little over four minutes left, North Shelby’s Silas Presson attempted a shot and Elijah Greenwell was there for the rebound and stick-back bucket. 

  The Wildcats tallied 10 more points in the quarter which gave them a 45-38 lead. 

  The fourth quarter was hard fought by both teams. The Wildcats added six points within a minute which allowed them to establish an 11-point lead, 51-40.

  Things started taking off for the Raiders after Cale Stoneburner went two-for-two from the line. Seconds later, Uhlmeyer stole the ball and scored an easy layup. Carson Orr then stole the ball 12 seconds later and scored giving the Wildcats only a five-point advantage. 

    “There in the fourth quarter, we switched to a very aggressive man-to-man and made a couple switches and made some steals. I think the guys executed well.  We came back and did some good things. Carson Orr has played really well lately defensively, especially. He comes in and does some good things,” said Daniel.

   With 3:22 left in the game, Kyle Smith scored two points. NS took back the lead after Mettes and Uhlmeyer each scored a three-pointer. The Raiders led 54-48.

  Just eight seconds later, Chayton Baird scored a bucket and later was one-for-two from the line giving the Wildcats a 53-48 lead. With 47 seconds on the clock the Wildcats scored again. Caden Smith scored and was fouled. He was successful at the line giving Novinger a 61-54 lead. 

  A technical foul was called on a Wildcat, with 30 seconds left in the game and Uhlmeyer made one-of-two free throws. Orr tallied two points putting the Raiders down 61-57.

  With North Shelby’s pressuring defense, Novinger got five seconds called on them during an inbound attempt. Sandstorm got fouled and was one-for-two from the line giving Novinger a 62-57 lead.

  The Raiders were unable to respond until Elijah Greenwell scored a bucket with just two seconds left in the game and the Wildcats were able to claim the victory. 

  Daniel said, “I think the guys clawed back, other than that slow start and offensive rebounds that really killed us all night long. We’ve got to be able to board on the defensive end and keep people off of the glass. That’s where we are getting beat.”

  Leading scorer for the Raiders was Uhlmeyer who tallied 15 points. Twelve of his points were three-pointers. Kyle Smith scored 14 and Mettes 10.