Northlake Christian School’s Wolverines reeled off an 81-34 victory over the Archbishop Hannan Hawks Friday in District 7-1A play at Hannan. The Wolverines (9-6) moved to 2-0 in district play, while Hannan (5-8) fell to 0-2.

NCS put five players in double figures led by senior Alex Reed’s 14 points. Reed was averaging 12.8 points per game, going into the contest. Freshman Timmy Broussard dropped in 13 points off the bench all in the second half, including 10 points in the fourth quarter. NCS’ Carter Fitzgerald contributed 12 points with Taylor Bazzell and Josh Ryan, the Wolverines’ leading scorer at 15 points per game, finished with 10 points each.

NCS jumped out to a 6-0 lead capped off by Reed’s breakaway dunk with 5:46 on the clock.

NCS senior Alex Reed drives to the hoop defended by Archbishop Hannan'€™s Gino Gioe during Friday night'€™s district contest at Hannan. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

Reed, 6-foot-5, talked about his dunk.

”I was pretty excited as soon as I saw the open court. I was drooling already,” the senior said.

Reed said Archbishop Hannan has become the Wolverines cross-town rival.

“We always want to do our best to come out with intensity. It was a lot of fun to play in front of a packed house. Especially, if you are in an opposing gym,” Reed added.

NCS did a nice job finding the open man throughout the game, playing unselfishly, making the extra pass to get the best-shot attempt.

Reed said the Wolverines have great team chemistry. “We know where players are going to be before they go to the open space on the court.”

NCS coach Andy Allen was proud of the way his team distributed the ball. “This might be the first time I have had five guys in double figures in a game. I’ve had four several times, but I don’t think I have ever had five. I was happy with the way we approached the game. We played with intensity and didn’t take a lot of bad shots,” Allen said.

Hannan started out extremely slow trying to find an answer for the NCS pressure in your face defense. The Hawks turned the ball over on their first six possessions before sophomore Eddie Laine, the game’s high scorer with 17 points, drained a 3-pointer with 5:15 left in the opening quarter to put Hannan on the board. Laine is the Hawks’ leading scorer, averaging 17.2 points per game.

NCS’ Bazzell answered Laine’s trey with one of his own, starting a nine-point run to push the margin to 15-3 with 3:40 to go. Laine, who scored all seven of the Hawks’ first quarter points, hit a basket to make it 15-5. NCS’ Will Werner converted on a spinning, reverse layup with Fitzgerald and Ryan splitting a pair of free throws each. Laine finally countered with a layup to cut the lead to 19-7 with just under two minutes left in the quarter.

NCS then generated some more offensive firepower, scoring the final seven points of the quarter, including a 3-pointer by Ryan to give the Wolverines a 26-7 lead.

NCS netted 19 points in the second period, while Hannan did a better job finding the mark with 14 points. The Hawks’ Ben Condon stepped up in the second quarter to support Laine, by scoring five points on a 3-pointer and two free throws. Laine added four points in the quarter and Josh Bono buried a trey along with a basket from Patrick Munger.

Bazzell and Fitzgerald delivered five points each and Josh Seale contributed a 3-pointer for the Wolverines, which took a 45-21 lead to the locker room.

NCS outscored Hannan 19-7 in the third period with Laine scoring six of Hannan’s points to finish with his 17.

“We take Northlake Christian as a big rivalry. A big key to the game was their height advantage. For whatever reason, we just didn’t hustle enough. We didn’t come out strong,” Laine said.

“Northlake Christian is a really good club. You have to give them credit. They have a lot of good shooters,” Lane added.

The fourth quarter belonged to NCS with Broussard carrying the load with 11 points, connecting on two 3-pointers and two other baskets. Sophomore Caleb Cherry added four points, while eighth grader Dane Landry joined the scoring column, making two-of-four free throws.

Hannan coach Marc Hebert said he was appreciative of the large crowd.

“We had a really nice turnout.”

He said Northlake Christian plays tough, in your face defense. “We have to get use to that style because when we play other teams in the district like Varnado and Southern Lab that’s how they play. At this point, we don’t do a good job of handling defensive pressure,” Hebert said.