BAKER — If Baker School’s boys basketball team is to have a shot at a playoff run the Gators must fix the little things.
That was evident Monday night as Baker hosted District 3-1A rival Northview.
On the positive side the Gators hit 10 3-point baskets and had three players in double figures. But while the shots were falling from long range Baker struggled from close range in a 70-60 loss.
Baker-Northview boys basketball photos>>>
The Gators were their own worst enemies from inside the paint in the fourth quarter missing at least a half dozen shots from within four feet of the basket.
“When we miss the layups to me it’s just a part of mental toughness,” Gator Coach Janavor Weatherspoon said. “I put that all on the coaching staff and myself.
“We have got to get those guys mentally tougher. When you have an open layup and you miss it that’s all mental. I told them in a game like this you are going to lose if you can’t hit the layups.”
If Baker had been able to hit the shots from close range the outcome of the game might have been different, but the Gator defense would have still needed to stop Northview’s Cameron Newsome.
Newsome was a one-man gang scoring a game-high 28 points in leading the Chiefs to the win.
Newsome made his presence known early as he scored the game’s first basket off an offensive rebound.
A Niekel Roberson basket put the Chiefs up by four points with less than a minute gone in the game.
Baker (5-10, 1-2) got on the scoreboard when Austin Walters hit the first of his five 3-point baskets.
Northview led 7-3 before Brooks Taylor scored a couple of baskets for the Gators to tie the game.
The teams traded baskets until late in the first quarter when Matt Samuolis scored to give Baker a 14-13 lead with four seconds left in the period.
The Gators saw the lead slip away when Newsome hit two free throws early in the second quarter. Baker never led again despite keeping things close.
Walters continued to have a hot hand from long range for the Gators in the second quarter. And Terrell Reed, who led Baker in scoring with 16 points started to get his game untracked.
Northview led 35-32 at the half.
A Taylor 3-pointer tied the game at 35-35. Baker also tied the game at 37-37, 42-42 and 44-44, but the Gators could never wrestle the lead from the Chiefs.
Northview led 48-44 at the end of the third quarter and continued to stretch the lead throughout the final period.
Reed was followed in scoring by Walters and Taylor with 15 points each.
Newsome was followed in scoring for Northview by Eric Williams. Williams scored 18 points.
EmailNews Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker boys struggle from close range against Northview (PHOTOS, VIDEO)