South Webster junior Eli Roberts (1) shoots over Northwest senior Caleb Lewis (4) during their non-league boys basketball game at Northwest High School.

Courtesy of Nick Kingrey

McDERMOTT — On the team front, it was a battle of two early undefeateds for both Scioto County and the Southern Ohio Conference.

Individually, it was a star-power two-horse race of number-one jerseys —literally.

But in the end, it was a South Webster Jeep better known for his golf game than his basketball prowess that made the biggest difference — in Saturday night’s non-league unbeaten encounter in Roy Rogers Country.

And although he was injured on the play and didn’t return, Jeep junior Owen Mault’s mark was already made —as South Webster outscored the host Northwest Mohawks 11-1 inside the final four minutes, and remained undefeated with an important 59-47 victory.

With the win, which was the Jeeps’ fourth in as many games this season, the Division IV stronghold South Webster scored an impressive postseason tournament resume win —handing the Division III Mohawks their first loss in six tries.

It gave first-year SWHS and legendary head coach Norm Persin his 782nd career coaching victory, and it gave added confidence to an already talented and highly-touted South Webster unit.

Through the opening 13 minutes and 13 seconds, South Webster withstood five lead changes and five ties with the experienced Mohawks —before opening up a 35-23 halftime advantage with a 17-4 run over the final 2:47 of the second quarter.

South Webster went on to lead 39-23 thanks to 10 total unanswered points, as the Jeeps matched their largest margin with a 41-25 edge with 12 minutes and 38 seconds to play.

But, in a defensive-minded fourth frame that saw two combined field goals over a three-minute and 10-second stretch, Mault made the game’s biggest play —to stop the Mohawks’ major rally and essentially ice the win for the Jeeps.

After Northwest standout senior Connor Lintz landed his final field goal of 10 for a 48-46 deficit with 3:52 remaining, the Jeeps —which led 48-42 with 5:10 to go —tried to stall and consume clock, making the Mohawks come up and foul them.

With an estimated minute and 45 seconds of that possession elapsed, there was a loose ball in the Jeep frontcourt —and Mault and the Mohawks made the effort in gaining control of it.

Mault did just that, even drove the baseline, rose up high, and scored and was fouled in the act of shooting — as he came down hard to the floor.

South Webster junior Owen Mault (4) scored a key late basket in the Jeeps’ 59-47 non-league boys basketball victory at Northwest.

Courtesy of Nick Kingrey

It was Mault’s final of his three field goals for seven points, but indeed a key play thanks to the basket and the foul —per Persin.

“Pretty much so,” he said, simply.

But he did expand on what happened next, as Northwest sophomore Logan Wolfenbarker —following the foul call —was whistled for a technical foul.

Eli Roberts, the six-foot and seven-inch junior Jeep standout, recorded two technical-foul free throws —making it 52-46 and also giving the Jeeps the ball back.

South Webster was never threatened after that, as Roberts registered an old-fashioned three-point play for a 55-46 lead only 30 seconds later — and meshed two more free throws following that at the 1:08 mark.

Christian White’s two foul shots and one by Lintz in the final 1.4 seconds canceled each other out.

South Webster was only 9-of-16 from the foul line, but sank eight of those in the fourth quarter —all in the final 1:53.

“That (Mault) basket and the technical were both big, we got the ball out of bounds and got another bucket off that,” said Persin. “That sealed it.”

Persin praised his Jeeps for first building a big lead, and pulling away from the Mohawks midway through, before fending off the Northwest hard charge and adversity late.

“Gotta give credit to Northwest because they didn’t give up and kept playing hard, but this is a good win for us and we bounced back there late. Northwest some kids who can play, and three of them have started since they were freshmen. So they are legit. When they made their run in the second half, we were coming down and taking quick shots. We weren’t running our offense to where we can run some time and take better shots. Everything was quick and it wasn’t great shot selection,” said the legendary coach. “But we were able to hang in there and hit our free throws down the stretch.”

Northwest head coach Rick Scarberry discussed the roller-coaster ride his Mohawks took against the Jeeps —until the final two minutes.

“We played super until about three minutes left in the second quarter. Connor missed a tough layup, they came down and hit a three-pointer to take the lead, and I had to sub in because we had a little foul trouble. Caleb Lewis picked up his third, we needed to rest him there and then (Eli) Roberts hit a couple big ones on Tanner (Bolin). We go in down 12 at halftime that they extend to 16, but we talked about cutting that in half going into the fourth quarter which we did,” said Scarberry. “Finally battled back to down two with two minutes left. I thought our kids battled and I told them that if we play like we played for three-and-a-half quarters, we can play with anybody on our schedule. Not too many teams are going to beat South Webster.”

And, not too many teams can match up with Roberts, especially when he was on target like he was on Saturday night.

He poured in 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 9-of-12 from inside the three-point line —and meshed 5-of-7 free throws, with three of them coming on and-one opportunities.

He scored 16 in the opening half, as his back-to-back three-pointers — including a second-quarter buzzer-beater — made it 35-23 at halftime.

He had three deuces apiece in the first and third frames, with twice an old-fashioned three-point play chance that he missed —but didn’t miss in the fourth.

He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds which were all defensive, blocked five shots, committed only one foul, and kept his composure whenever physically fouled hard —or even agitated-attempted by the Mohawk cheer block.

“I thought Eli Roberts, oh my, he just completely dominated the game tonight. When he plays like that, it’s lights out. And he answered with keeping his composure. He took a couple of hard fouls out there, but he battled through that and got through it,” said Persin.

Scarberry concurred.

“I thought Caleb Lewis did a great job on him (Roberts) and stayed glued to him, but that’s the best I’ve ever seen him play. I don’t see him play a lot live obviously, but Eli was active tonight and moved well without the ball and used his size and hit some tough shots,” he said. “And their kids got him the ball.”

Just like the Mohawks got likewise Lintz the rock.

Northwest senior Connor Lintz (1) drives against South Webster senior Brock Campbell (12) during Saturday night’s non-league boys basketball game at Northwest High School.

Courtesy of Nick Kingrey

Lintz lit up the scoreboard for 25 points —as he was 10-of-20 from the field, with only one of those 20 taken from long distance.

But of his 25 points, as he also secured a team-high six rebounds, 18 of them were in the first half —including 4-of-6 of his 5-of-8 free throws.

Speaking of 18, fellow senior Tanner Bolin bucketed all 18 of his points over the final three periods on seven total field goals —which included a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays.

“Our kids knew Connor (Lintz) was playing well. Connor and Tanner have been our leaders all year. When we’re getting stuff out of that motion, you have to move and get to where you need to be. Connor does a really good job of that and our guys look for him,” said Scarberry.

Bolin and Lintz were the only Mohawks to score for the first three quarters, as senior Jay Jenkins tallied twice in the fourth — as his second field goal got it to 48-44 with only five minutes remaining.

But while the Mohawks shot 53-percent (17-of-32) from inside the arc, only Bolin bagged both baskets outside of it —as Northwest was 2-of-13 (15-percent) from deep.

South Webster outrebounded them 28-20, and got the Mohawks into foul trouble —as Jenkins eventually fouled out, Lintz fouled four times, Lewis had the first-half three, and Bolin and Wolfenbarker both had two.

Lewis’ first-half three allowed the Jeeps to take advantage and score quick late —as back-to-back three-balls by Tyler Sommer and then Mault made it 24-19, followed by a Dylan Shupert old-fashioned three-point play with 1:40 to go.

South Webster senior Tyler Sommer (14) scores a basket between Northwest seniors Tanner Bolin (12) and Connor Lintz (1).

Courtesy of Nick Kingrey

South Webster went off for 23 second-period points to Northwest’s 13 — as Sommer scored his nine in the first half, Shupert his nine in the middle two quarters, and defensive-oriented Brock Campbell chipped in three counters in the fourth.

That same fourth quarter which saw Mault maintain that key possession and subsequent conversion, and Roberts rain in his free throws following a great game all night.

“They did some good things, but I thought our kids did a good job and we had a good gameplan. We hit some shots and made some free throws when we needed to, just like they did. Just a good high-level basketball game man with two pretty good teams,” said Scarberry. “South Webster will likely win a district championship and maybe be in the regional final in Division IV. They have kids coming off the bench who can do things, they have all the pieces plus quickness and kids who can shoot the ball. And when Roberts plays like he did tonight, they are going to be really tough to beat. But if we play like we did for three-and-a-half quarters, we’re going to be okay too.”

* * *

South Webster 12 23 10 14— 59

Northwest 10 13 11 13 – 47

SOUTH WEBSTER 59 (4-0)

Eli Roberts 11 5-7 29, Christian White 0 2-6 2, Dylan Shupert 4 1-1 9, Owen Mault 3 0-0 7, Brock Campbell 1 1-2 3, Jack Timothy 0 0-0 0, Tyler Sommer 4 0-0 9; TOTALS 23 9-16 59; Three-point goals: 4 (Eli Roberts 2, Owen Mault and Tyler Sommer 1 apiece)

NORTHWEST 47 (5-1)

Connor Lintz 10 5-8 25, Caleb Lewis 0 0-0 0, Ethan Crabtree 0 0-0 0, Jay Jenkins 2 0-0 4, Tanner Bolin 7 2-2 18, Logan Wolfenbarker 0 0-0 0, Jaxon Powell 0 0-0 0; TOTALS 19 7-10 47; Three-point goals: 2 (Tanner Bolin 2)

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved