Northridge Vikings step closer to history with victory at Granville

On Feb 1, 2023

GRANVILLE — Carter Mallernee continued his breakout junior season and senior Justin Townley again delivered in the clutch, moving the Northridge boys basketball team to the brink of history.

The Vikings (14-3, 11-1) sealed a 44-34 victory Tuesday against host Granville (11-7, 9-2) in a battle of the Licking County League leaders. They host rival Johnstown on Friday with a chance to clinch the Cardinal Division, which would be the program’s first league title.

“(The seniors) do so much for us,” junior Ethan Payne said. “We have been together since middle school. (Townley) has always been a big help for me. We lifted all summer and all fall together, getting stronger. We have worked for this.”

Carter Mallernee was the only offensive star in a game dominated by defense for three quarters. His 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, gave Northridge just a 24-22 lead after three.

Townley then went to work in the post. He scored eight of his 10 points, including a critical 3-point play, in the fourth quarter as the Vikings finally pulled away, scoring 10 of the final 12 points during the last 2:30.

“I kept challenging my bigs all game,” Northridge coach Bill Mallernee said. “We kept going to them, and we were able to get (Townley) in a mismatch a couple possessions. That got him going a little bit, and he kind of felt it.”

Granville, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped, had not lost in January. The Blue Aces’ zone defense slowed the Vikings, and scoring in transition helped them to a 10-5 lead until Carter Mallernee’s 3 just before the first-quarter buzzer.

Northridge led most of the rest of the way, but Granville hung tough each time the Vikings made an attempt to pull away. Acrobatic layups for juniors Alex Engle and Jase Becker pulled the Blue Aces to within 34-32, but their inability to consistently finish in the paint against the bigger Vikings eventually did them in.

“We weren’t great at the free-throw line, and we missed some shots around the rim,” said Granville coach Chris Powell, whose team was 6-for-13 from the foul line, missing all four of their fourth-quarter attempts.

“Our defense was really, really good up until the last two minutes of the game,” he added. “Some of that was just the pressure of not making some plays on offense.”

Carter Mallernee’s 3-point shooting got Northridge going. He then went inside for four points in the second quarter and hit a 3 and worked his way into the paint for a tip-in the third.

“I have been getting full denied the past couple games,” said Carter Mallernee, who finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. “I just keep moving, keep my teammates involved. When the team needs me, I am going to step up and hit it.”

The Vikings were 9-for-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Senior Ian Travis added five of his seven points in the fourth, and Payne totaled seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

“Coach is always preaching defense, and we work a lot on that in practice,” Payne said. “That’s just huge for us. We knew they had some good players, and we feel like we shut them down pretty well.”

The fearless Becker led Granville with 16 points. He was the only player in double figures as Engle added seven.

The Blue Aces’ winning streak was punctuated by a victory at Licking Heights last Friday to take full control of the Buckeye Division. They still can clinch at least a share of their second consecutive title with a victory Friday at Licking Valley, but they wanted more Tuesday.

“Our mind-set is we wanted to win the LCL period,” Powell said. “We had an opportunity to play a really good opponent that we feel like will get us better to win some tournament games. We wanted to be the outright LCL — not Buckeye, not Cardinal — to have that.”

Friday is potentially a day nobody at Northridge will ever forget. The story writes itself as the Vikings have a chance to cut the nets down against their neighbors.

“It’s amazing. It’s great being on this team and giving the seniors this experience,” Carter Mallernee said.