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Seniors lead the way in North Farmington’s 58-53 win over Clarkston
Farmington Hills – Trailing Clarkston by six early in the second half in a key OAA Red Division battle on Friday night, North Farmington was in need of a spark.
And the Raiders got that spark from senior Josh Hogans.
Hogans would knock down back-to-back 3-pointers late in the third quarter to tie the game at 33-33, and the rest of the North Farmington senior class would help the Raiders build a lead that would grow to as large as 12 and would hold on for a 58-53 win.
North Farmington coach Todd Negoshian, who had been dealing with kidney stones before Friday’s game, said that he was pleased with the play from his senior class on Friday night.
“We’ve got kids who can really shoot and I thought when we played them early in the year, Amauri (Hardy) was just getting used to stuff, Billy was just coming back from an injury and we didn’t shoot it well as a group,” he said. “I was really happy to see our seniors shoot the way they did tonight. It was good for us.”
With the win, North Farmington moves into a first place tie with Clarkston in the OAA Red Division race.
A Jacob Joubert 3-pointer late in the third quarter would break a 35-35 tie and after a late basket by Clarkston’s Foster Loyer, North Farmington would hold a narrow 38-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Starting the fourth quarter, North Farmington would go on an 11-0 run, highlighted by six points from Hardy to open a 49-37 lead with just over four minutes left to play.
After falling behind early in the second half, Hardy said that North Farmington’s mindset remained positive as they tried to bounce back.
“It’s really important, we all had to come together as a team and until the game is over, we always fight back,” he said. “We always keep our minds positive and it’s just about the next play and we just wanted to make something happen.”
Hardy finished with 16 points to lead North Farmington (13-2), Billy Thomas chipped in with 15 as well in the win.
Clarkston would respond with a pair of 3-pointers from Tabin Throgmorton and Loyer to cut the deficit to 50-43, and would trim the lead down to as low as five points with two minutes left after a four-point play by Throgmorton, but late free throws from North Farmington would seal the win for the Raiders.
Loyer scored a game-high 22 points to lead Clarkston (13-2).
