Northern hasn't had much luck against North Point recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Northern Patriots will be playing at home against the North Point Eagles at 6:00 p.m. Northern is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61.8 points per game this season.
While Northern didn't have the best season last year (they finished 9-11), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They escaped with a win on Saturday against Richard Montgomery by the margin of a single free throw, 65-64. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Patriots.
| 12/28/24 vs Richard Montgomery | 5 |
| 12/13/24 vs Patuxent | 4 |
| 12/20/23 @ Huntingtown | 4 |
| 12/21/24 vs DuVal | 3 |
| 12/11/24 vs Huntingtown | 3 |
Alec Johnson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 24 points and 20 rebounds. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in steals (five). Jeremiah Byrd was another key player, going 5 for 12 on his way to 15 points and three steals.
Northern smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, North Point was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They took a hard 61-42 fall against Oxon Hill. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Maryland basketball rankings (they are ranked 169th, while the Clippers are ranked 31st).
Northern will need focus on slowing down DJ Brown, one of several North Point players who made an impact when they last played. He dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Jermaine Griffin, who posted six points.
Northern's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for North Point, their loss dropped their record down to 2-6.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Northern has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30 rebounds per game. However, it's not like North Point struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.8 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Northern beat North Point 55-44 in their previous meeting back in January. Will Northern repeat their success, or does North Point have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
