Northampton Survives Whitehall Upset Scare with 57-46 OT Victory

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Whitehall	12	14	13	7	0	46
Northampton	4	15	12	15	11	57

#2 seeded Northampton faced #7 seeded Whitehall in a playoff basketball edition of the Cement Belt rivalry. What followed was nothing short of expectations–a competitive game between two schools that know each other well. It was so competitive that it needed an extra quarter to decide a winner. Northampton prevailed 57-46, but Whitehall gave Northampton all they could handle and made them earn it.

The 1st quarter started with Whitehall controlling the pace of the game with long possessions that would keep the K-Kids’ high powered offense at bay. The first score of the game did not happen until the 6:41 mark of the 1st quarter, when Whitehall’s Talon Dogmanits scored a 2-point layup. Whitehall would continue to control the quarter with a balanced team effort, getting 3-point contributions from Tanner Dogmanits and Sudge Hoderewski, as well as Cole Rozycki. Tanner and Sudge would be the leading scorers of the quarter for Whitehall with 3 each. Ethan Raphaun and Korbin Sollars would finish as the leading scorers for Northampton with 2 each.

The 2nd quarter would be more evenly matched as both teams finished with 15 and 14 points respectively. Northampton’s leading scorers all had 3 each–Ethan Raphaun, Leo Regec, and Jake Raysely. Whitehall had two of their two leading scorers of the quarter record 3 points each in Jack Lloyd and Tanner Dogmanits. Cole Rozycki led Whitehall in overall scoring with 8 points and Ethan Raphaun led Northampton in overall scoring with 7. Whitehall carried a 26-19 lead into half, shocking the Northampton crowd.

The 3rd quarter saw Northampton’s offense come to life after being cold for much of the first half. Two K-Kids lead the quarter in scoring with 3 points each, which were Leo Regec and Jake Raysely, both with 3 pointers. Whitehall’s leading scorer of the quarter was Jack Lloyd with six points. Whitehall’s lead was extended to 8 points by quarter’s end, 39-31, as they looked like they were ready to pull off the upset.

Northampton did not go down without a fight, as they opened up the fourth quarter on a 6-2 run, to come within four. Balanced scoring from Noah Walakovits, Brady Simock, and Ethan Raphaun caused the run, as all had two each. Whitehall held a 46-43 lead later in the quarter, as Jack Lloyd and Cole Richards had 2 each, and Tanner Dogmanits had a 3-pointer. However, a late Noah Walakovits 3 with just over a minute remaining tied the score at 46, where it stayed and brought on a 4 minute period of overtime.

The overtime frame was all Northampton, as they shutout Whitehall on an 11-0 run to end the game. The leading scorer of OT for Northampton was Noah Walakovits with 6 pts, including 4 made free throws. He was also the leading scorer of the game with 16 points. Ethan Raphaun was Northampton’s 2nd leading scorer with 13 points. Whitehall’s leading scorers were Jack Lloyd and Cole Rozycki with 12 points each.

Northampton will now go onto the PPL Center on Monday Night to face Liberty at 6 PM, while the winner of that game will play the winner of the 8 PM Nazareth-Parkland game on Thursday, Feb 12, at 8 PM for the EPC Championship.