Northgate Tramples Concord in DVAL Showdown

Northgate High squeezed the life out of Concord High’s offense on the road Friday night.

The Broncos managed to put up a respectable 57 points and held the Minutemen to only 29, in a blowout, bounce back victory after losing to Concord, 55-39, on Jan. 10.

“We are priding ourselves in defense this year,” said the normally offensive minded Northgate coach Steve Mitchell. “That was the consummate defensive performance.”

Concord’s leading scorer Marcus Walton tallied 19 and 22 points against Northgate in their previous meetings and tonight Jonny Crosthwaite blanketed him for three quarters, rarely even giving him enough space to attempt a shot.

“Jonny Crosthwaite is the best defense player in high school,” gushed Mitchell. “The guy can guard bigs and littles. Tonight he took Walton, who is one of the best players in the DVAL and in the area, and he did not score.”

The swarming Northgate defense limited Concord to a measly four points in the first and third quarters.

Crosthwaite and fellow senior Connor Jean also led a hot shooting Broncos squad who shot 56 percent from the field and 71 percent on threes in the first half.

Crosthwaite capped a huge game with 19 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. His wingman Jean had the pull-up jumper flowing and tallied 17 points to go with two three-pointers.

“They were awesome tonight, actually they have been awesome all year long,” added Mitchell of Jean and Crosthwaite. “They are great leaders and co-captains and they both love basketball. Last game against Concord was their worst game of the year and I don’t know what it was, legs or what… but they just did not have it. Tonight they wanted to redeem themselves.”

Concord’s Tylek Farley was the lone bright spot in a forgettable performance for the Minutemen. Farley scored 11 rugged points in the paint to go with nine rebounds.

Concord trailed 10-0 in the first quarter and the team never mounted a comeback, as the lead grew larger with each passing quarter.

Northgate won their fifth consecutive game and maintains sole possession of second place behind College Park, while Concord drops their second consecutive game and is serious long shot in the race for a DVAL championship.

——————————

Northgate 57, Concord 29

1

2

3

4

F

Northgate

14

22

9

12

57

Concord

4

12

4

9

29

Fouled out: None.

Records: Northgate 14-8, 6-2 DVAL; Concord 15-8, 5-4 DVAL.

Diablo Valley Athletic League, boys basketball, 2/3/12

Download the movie