Boys Basketball gets past first round opponent in the Saints Classic, 58-40.

With a half-filled gym and a sleepy atmosphere, Northwest was able to finish off the first round of the Saints Classic with a 58-40 victory over the Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.

The Cougars were in control the entire game pulling away in second quarter and taking a 15 point lead into halftime.

Throughout the night the Cougars tried to the work the ball inside especially with the height advantage of Senior Steve Carver who finished with 20 points in the game.

Junior AJ Spencer also contributed to Northwest night with a team high 21 points with most of the points coming in transition.

” I think are problem tonight was we weren’t running very good half-court sets. We were trying to rush stuff and get stuff up too quick,” coach Mike Rose said.

After staying in control the entire game the Cougars struggled against the pressure of the Vikings. Some careless turnovers were a problem down the stretch.

” It was sloppy and those are things we won’t be able to do over the course of the next couple of games. We got make things cleaner if were gonna have success in this tournament,” Rose said.

The Cougars will play in the first semifinal of Saints Classic against the host school Saint Thomas Aquinas at 6: 30 p.m. The Saints won easily in the game proceeding Northwest 58-39 over Mill Valley.

We kinda expect some different things and we’ll talk about it a little bit. I guess the main thing is we don’t have a lot of time to practice for (the game) ,” Rose said.

The other semifinal will be the Grandview (Mo.) Bulldogs versus the Bishop Miege Stags at 8:00 p.m.

” You know, all in all, I told the boys after the game, it was ugly win, but a win and will take it and move on to tomorrow,” Rose said.

AJ Spencer 21 points

Steve Carver 20 points

Trey Fruehling 10 points

Drew Goodger 4 points

Nick Feighner 2 points

Brady Smith 1 point