CLAYTON — A raucous Wayne student cheering section harassed Northmont players throughout the first half, hurling insults at every opportunity as the Thunderbolts took shots at the hoop in front of the Wayniacs, as the Wayne faithful call themselves.

The harassment had little effect. Cameron Tyree calmly buried a three and when Da’lin Wilkins hammered a slam-dunk to put the Thunderbolts up 10-6 the taunting quieted down, but only for a minute.

Wayne got a basket by Jay’sean Price to cut the T’bolts lead to 10-8 at the end of the quarter. Price scored twice in the second period, including a three-pointer.

Northmont’s Cedric Works blocked a shot and scored in the second quarter and then added two more baskets. Javen Vaughn added a trey while Danny Sluterbeck, Victor Drummond and Chisom Ibe added two points apiece.

Works was a force inside the paint scoring eight first half points accounting for almost one-third of the Thunderbolts’ scoring.

The Warriors buried a trio of shots from beyond the arc in the second period, one each by Myles Perkins, Juan Crawford, Jr., and Price while Isaiah Thompson scored twice and Mykel Shackelford added a bucket to give Wayne a 27-25 lead at halftime.

Northmont rallied in the second half thanks to scoring by two junior guards. B.J. Hatcher scored 11 and Victor Drummond scored eight in the second half to help power the Thunderbolts to a 64-53 victory.

Wilkins added two more dunks in the fourth quarter, the first to tie the game 42-42 and the second to put Northmont up 58-48. A total of ten Thunderbolts scored in the game.

Northmont outscored Wayne 28-11 in the fourth quarter with solid defense and key rebounding.

“We take a lot of pride on the defensive end of the floor and we have to continue to get better at it,” said Northmont coach Darnell Hoskins. “I thought as the game waned we got more intelligent defensively. We got stops when we needed them and on offense we were able to be patient and get the ball in our best ball handlers hands. We made them pay by making free throws down the stretch.”

With the victory Northmont improved to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Wayne fell to 2-1 and 1-1 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference.

WAY 08 19 15 11 – 53

NMT 10 15 15 24 – 68

Wayne: Myles Perkins 2-0-5, Juan Crawford, Jr. 5-6-19, Josiah Howard-Morrison 1-1-3, Isaiah Thompson 4-0-8, Jay’sean Price 5-0-11, Mykel Shackelford 4-0-8. Totals: 21-17-53.

Northmont: B.J. Hatcher 4-3-11, D.J. Williams 2-1-5, Da’lin Wilkins 4-0-8, Deuce Cortner 0-2-2, Javen Vaughn 1-3-6, Danny Sluterbeck 1-0-2, Victor Drummond 4-2-10, Cameron Tyree 3-0-7, Chisom Ibe 1-0-2, Cedrick Works 4-3-11.

Three-point field goals: Wayne 4 (Crawford 2, Perkins, Price); Northmont 2 (Tyree, Vaughn).

Records: Wayne 2-1 (1-1), Northmont 2-1 (1-1).

Reach Ron Nunnari by email: [email protected].