Boys Basketball: Freshman Tyson Perkins sparks Westerville North against rival Westerville Central
Saturday, December 9, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Westerville North’s Tyson Perkins drives to the basket while Westerville Central’s Devin Martin defends during the host Warriors’ win Dec. 9. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Like two sides of the same coin, depth ended up being the difference for the Westerville North boys basketball team.
The Warriors were able to wear down rival Westerville Central and took advantage of big defensive plays by freshman Tyson Perkins in a 69-64 non-league win on Dec. 9 at North.
“(Defense) was a collective effort, but it was all started by Tyson pressuring the ball, getting turnovers and just playing hard,” junior post/wing Micah Young said.
Perkins came off the bench and had four steals, forced a five-second violation and a couple of other turnovers to spark North (4-0). He added nine points, including a couple of putbacks off four offensive rebounds.
“(Defense) is very important,” said Perkins, a freshman point guard/wing. “If you get steals, it’s easy points.”
Central (2-1), which came off a 53-44 win against Pickerington North last night to open OCC-Ohio Division play, goes six deep in its regular rotation. Conversely, the Warriors played nine.
Maceo Harper knocked down a 3-pointer and Devin Martin added a basket to give the Warhawks the early lead, which they held for much of the first half.
Westerville Central’s Maceo Harper rises for a dunk during the Warhawks’ loss to host Westerville North on Dec. 9. Photo by John Hulkenberg
Josh Henderson knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead to 14-4, Central’s largest of the game.
“It’s no excuse whatsoever, but we played an absolute war last night with Pickerington North,” Central coach Kevin Martin said. “Then you gotta come here and (play Westerville North) 24 hours later – that’s really hard – especially when you only (play) six guys.”
North fought back, getting within a possession three times before Perkins came through with his first big defensive play – a steal at the top of the key that he turned into a layup to knot the score at 28 at the half.
Perkins and Vari Adams each came up with steals that led to points during a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter that ultimately put North ahead for good.
“We always talk to the kids about playing hard and continuing to wear down the other team at both ends,” North coach Shan Trusley said. “We’re able to bring 10 guys at you and that way we can keep (the energy) up for four quarters. The kids have done a really good job with that.”
Young, who scored four points during the decisive run, finished with a game-best 20 points and added 11 rebounds and a pair of steals for the Warriors.
Westerville North’s Micah Young drives to the basket while Westerville Central’s Devin Martin defends during the host Warriors’ win Dec. 9. Photo: John Hulkenberg
“We were able to get downhill and get some easy layups,” Young said. “Then it was getting stop after stop. That’s what got us over the hump.”
Tai Perkins had 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Eyon Robinson added nine points and three steals for North, which finished with 11 steals and forced 16 turnovers overall.
“We made mistakes that we normally don’t make – we turned the ball over way too much,” Martin said. “We got outrebounded and that hasn’t happened in the first two games. We had 15 total (turnovers) between the first two games. Then, we got out of trying to run offense and were just trying to make a play individually. (It wasn’t) in a selfish way, we were just struggling to run offense.”
Dallas Tucker had 20 points and four rebounds and Maceo Harper had 16 points, four assists, four rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks to pace the Warhawks, who won five of the last six meetings.
The last 11 meetings have been decided by single-digit margins with the total margin of nine points in favor of the Warhawks.
Henderson had 15 points and seven rebounds and Devin Martin added 11 points, six assists and six rebounds for Central.
“I thought we got off to a really good start and we were playing within character of who we are,” Martin said. “All credit to North – they take you out of stuff, they speed you up and they can make you do some things you don’t normally want to do. We survived the first half. We got off to a decent start (in the second half), but you could just see the energy level and the fatigue was just kind of creeping into our guys.”
Westerville Central’s Dallas Tucker eyes the basket while Westerville North’s Eyon Robinson defends Dec. 9 at North. Photo: John Hulkenberg