By PAUL GOTHAM
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — A standing room only crowd filed into Ed Nietopski Gymnasium Saturday night to see Leadership Academy and Northstar Christian do battle.
Miles Brown proved worthy of the price of admission and then some.
The Northstar Christian guard scored 48 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Knights defeated Leadership, 83-74 at the Bishop Kearney Christmas Showcase.
Brown connected four times behind the 3-point arc in the first half. He converted 13 of 15 free throws and scored 27 points in the second half in a possible sectional preview.
A Class C school a year ago, Northstar’s recent success (three straight sectional titles and a pair of trips to the NYS Class C final four including last year’s appearance in the championship game) forced the tiny school (Class D by actual numbers) to compete at the Class A2 level for 2018-19.
Winning a fourth straight sectional title won’t come easy playing in a bracket with the likes of Wayne, NE Douglass, East, Pittsford Sutherland, Wilson Magnet and Leadership.
If the past weekend’s events are any indication, the Knights are up for the challenge.
JJ Garwood and his squad loaded the school’s bus Friday morning with the destination set for Cleveland, Ohio. They arrived at Quicken Loans Arena an hour prior to their scheduled 2 PM tip off against Orchard Park a Class AA school out of Section VI.
There the arena’s staff informed them that a change in schedule was needed. Choices were provided. That which worked best meant Northstar would play that night after the NBA contest featuring the Milwaukee Bucks and the host Cavaliers.
48 POINTS / @SecVBBasketball
MILES BROWN @milesballers is the COLDEST kid in TOWN
and if you aint from the 585 then he might be the COLDEST kid around.
Yall dont hear me tho…. I know that @StonyBrookMBB do
Ck out highlights of Miles 48 pts @TheCityRocks @KevanJr pic.twitter.com/9gNedVLQUb— NEW RECRUIT MEDIA (@NewRecruitMedia) December 18, 2018
The Knights tipped off at 10:30 PM. Sean Smith scored 30 as Northstar defeated Orchard Park, 81-59. Miles Brown added 23. Michael Brown and Ryan Garwood scored 11 apiece.
The Knights returned to their bus after midnight and arrived back in Rochester at 5 AM.
Any chance of Garwood’s squad showing fatigue later that night was quickly dismissed.
Josh Pickett took a Miles Brown feed and started the scoring. Brown grabbed a rebound and went the length of the floor for two. Mike Brown nailed a pull-up jumper, and Ryan Garwood drilled a 3-pointer.
Northstar led 9-0 on the way to a 26-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
“We kinda turned that around into a positive and accepted the challenge,” Garwood said of the schedule change. “We’re going to have things come our way that are beyond our control, so we just got to adjust and only control what we can: our attitude and our effort. I’m big on that with the guys.”
Northstar stretched their advantage to 16 (41-25) at half and eventually led by as many as 21 early in the second half.
“They responded today with the way they came out,” Garwood said after the game. “They didn’t pack it in. They were more tuned in tonight than they were last night.”
Leadership eventually cut the margin to four. Kennyh Hardeman scored in the lane to make it a 75-71 game with 1:33 remaining.
Brown scored the game’s next five points including a traditional 3-point play with 54.3 seconds remaining.
When the horn sounded for the end of the game, Northstar’s celebration was tempered at best. They’ve already beaten a Class A school in Corning (IV), their season opener in which Brown accounted for 38.
Their schedule ahead doesn’t get any easier. They will host Corning later in the season and have dates with perennial contenders, Lyons, UPrep, Buffalo East, Aquinas and Bishop Kearney.
Don’t expect the Knights, though, to look for any sympathy.
“Miles Brown will not allow this team to become complacent,” Garwood said. “He sees us as being able to compete with anybody, and so do I. He’s looking at our schedule and quite humbly but boldly he’s like ‘you know what, I’m not sure who can beat us on this schedule.’ That’s just the competitor in him. Of course, he’s humble but he just does it with great confidence.”
Brown’s performance Saturday night was the seventh time he has topped the 40-point plateau with his career-best standing at 53. He ran his career point total to 2,343 – 99 shy of breaking Neil Weidman’s all-time Section V record, 2,441 points.
The long overdue attention from college’s started with an offer from Stony Brook that he tweeted out Monday.
Blessed to receive an offer from Stony Brook University ! Go Seawolves ???????? pic.twitter.com/0GUOMBNj0T
— miles brown (@milesballers) December 18, 2018
Northstar hosts Rochester Prep on Thursday night. The Knights play Lyons in the opening round of the Geneva Tournament on December 28th with the second round to follow the next day.
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