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Northmont holds off Fairmont late in game

One of Jim Brown’s ‘funnest’ teams holds off Firebirds in the 4th.

Northmont junior Keith Richardson (11) takes a shot in the third period as the Fairmont Firebirds play the Northmont Thunderbolts at Northmont High School in Clayton, Friday, December 16, 2011.

MediaMoments.com Northmont junior Keith Richardson (11) takes a shot in the third period as the Fairmont Firebirds play the Northmont Thunderbolts at Northmont High School in Clayton, Friday, December 16, 2011.

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By B.J. Bethel, Staff Writer Updated 12:50 AM Saturday, December 17, 2011

CLAYTON — Excuse the smile on Jim Brown’s face, but the boys basketball coach at Northmont High School is having a lot of fun.

His Thunderbolts defeated Fairmont 71-59 at home on Friday, giving them a 4-0 record. And Brown is doing it with a team he is liking more and more.

“This has been the funnest team I’ve had,” Brown said. “You coach for a lot of years, there are certain teams where you like their personalities, their work ethic, their attitudes, and this is one of those teams.”

The blend of upperclassmen and underclassmen has worked. Senior Devon Carter has guided the offense. The point guard had 22 points Friday and is among the Greater Western Ohio Conference leaderes in scoring and assists.

Fellow senior Jamal Trammell had 18 points and 13 rebounds. Juniors Dominique Stollings (11 points, five rebounds) and Keith Richardson (13 points) contributed.

“I have four seniors, five juniors and five sophomores,” Brown said. “I have a unique team and I knew it going into this season. Sometimes it’s the best team to have because you have seniors, but you have these young kids who are hungry.”

It has worked like a symphony so far this season, one conducted by Carter, the 5-foot-9 point guard.

“He is a point guard who doesn’t have to score to help you,” Brown said. “He realized there are more important things than that. He gets us into our offense, he’s very hard to guard — he generates a lot of offense for this team.”

They needed the offense against Fairmont. Northmont led by double-digits after the second quarter, thanks to its zone defense. The lead increased to 19 at one point in the third, but Fairmont reeled Northmont in thanks to an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter after a technical foul on Northmont. Fairmont managed to cut the lead to eight with 7:29 left in the fourth.

“We had one bad stretch, but we kept our composure,” Brown said. “We could have gone into the dumper, but we didn’t.”

Fairmont (2-2) was led by Phillip Kidd, who scored 17 points and shot 5-of-6 from the foul line in the second half. Greg Osborne scored 16.

Fairmont had won two in a row after losing to Fairfield in its opener.

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