Monday sports page: Northpoint swept by Harding, Hustle blasts Wolves

Photo: Clark Hamilton of Northpoint Christian advances the ball with teammates during the first half of Monday’s loss to Harding Academy. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com) 

Northpoint Christian basketball teams struggled on Harding Academy’s Senior Night, as the Lions held the Trojans scoreless in the entire second half of the boys’ game and the Lady Trojans also dropped their district game. It was an important loss for the Northpoint girls, which lost for the first time in district play and the result was also the second loss of the season overall.  

(B) Harding Academy 59, Northpoint Christian 15: Paxton Huxford led the Trojans in scoring at halftime with eight points. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, those eight points remained the high score on the Northpoint side of the scoresheet. Trailing just 22-15 at halftime, Northpoint saw Harding proceed to put 37 straight points on the scoreboard in the second half. 

The Lions went off to an 11-5 lead at the two minute mark remaining in the first quarter and led 15-7 at the end of the quarter.  Harding would go to the locker room ahead 22-15 at the break, as Northpoint outscored the Lions 10-7 in the second quarter. 

Huxford’s eight points for the Trojans were followed by Clark Hamilton with three.  Anderson Foster had 16 points and Kodi Brooks added 11 more for the Lions. 

(G) Harding Academy 43, Northpoint Christian 25: Nailah Herrera was held to just six points as Northpoint was not able to counter the physical pressuring play by the Lady Lions in the 18 point victory.  

The Lady Trojans were held to just three points in the first quarter as Harding roared out to a 16-3 lead and 27-16 margin at halftime as Lillie Milligan paced Northpoint with five points. 

Milligan was shut down in the second half and Herrera tried to bring Northpoint back into the game in the second half. The Lady Trojans crept within 27-18 halfway through the third quarter, but Harding scored the last eight points in the period for a 35-18 advantage going into the final eight minutes of the game.

Bella Rose Austin led all scorers with 14 points for Harding, followed by Niya Evans with eight. Herrera’s six points were followed by Milligan and Londyn Griffin with five each.  The loss stopped a run of nine consecutive wins for the Northpoint girls. 

HUSTLE BLAST IOWA WOLVES TO OPEN SERIES

Five Memphis Hustle players scored 20 points or more in the Hustle’s 147-118 victory over the Iowa Wolves Monday afternoon at the Landers Center. The 147 points marked a new season-high for the Hustle.

Memphis was led by David Johnson’s 27 points off the bench that included 5-of-10 three-pointers. Johnson complimented 23 points from Armando Bacot and 20 points each from Zyon Pullin, Miles Norris, and DJ Steward. 

“He’s missed most of the year with a hamstring injury,” said Hustle coach T.C. Swirsky. “In my opinion he’s one of the most talented players in the G League. Anytime we’ve got a guy like that on our roster, it doesn’t take much to get him going.”

But Johnson was not even the game’s high scorer, as the Wolves’ Trevor Keels led six players on his side in double figures with 32 points that included 7-of-15 from distance. 

After trailing by four at the end of the first quarter, Memphis outscored Iowa 47-21 in the second quarter to take a commanding lead. Memphis led by as many as 31 points in the second half.

Memphis shot 59.8 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, making 21 3-pointers. Memphis outscored Iowa 66-52 in the paint. The Hustle outrebounded the Wolves 53-37 and scored 27 second chance points. 

The Wolves fell to just 2-13 for the regular season portion of the schedule while the Hustle improved to 6-7.  The teams wrap up a two-game series on Wednesday night, starting at 7 p.m. in the Landers Center.  

“We have not won both games of a doubleheader all year long,” Swirsky said. “We have to come out here Wednesday and pretend like we lost this game today. If we want to move up in the standings, we have to start knocking off some of these games and it’s a great opportunity to do it at home.”

Monday’s game was played at 12 noon in order to not conflict with the parent Memphis Grizzlies’ contest against San Antonio Monday evening. The official box score indicated 211 fans were on hand in the 9,000-seat arena to watch.

Monday, Feb. 3

Prep boys’ basketball

• Harding Academy 59, Northpoint Christian 15
  • Northpoint: Paxton Huxford-8

Prep girls basketball

• Harding Academy 43, Northpoint Christian 25
  • Northpoint: Nailah Herrera-6

NBA G League basketball

• Memphis Hustle 147, Iowa Wolves 118

JUCO men’s basketball

• Pearl River 79, Northwest 74

JUCO women’s basketball

• Pearl River 50, Northwest 35