Northwest boys top Keller, grab basketball playoff spot

By Jarret Johnson

jmjohnson@star-telegram.com

JUSTIN — The Northwest Texans clinched a spot in the playoffs Friday on senior night with a 42-32 win over District 4-5A foe Keller.

The Texans (17-13, 8-5) opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run and never looked back.

"It's really what got us the win; the momentum got us going with the energy, we got the crowd into it," said Michael Healer, who finished with a game-high 15 points. "For all of the seniors who aren't going to play college basketball, we gave all of our heart out there. We knew it was our last home game and we wanted to do it for our parents, the crowd and the whole school."

Keller (21-10, 11-2) cut the lead to 34-28 with 3:32 remaining, but Northwest junior post David Ogunwolu scored four straight points on a dunk and a layup on consecutive possessions to put the game away.

The teams were tied heading into the fourth quarter, but the Texans outscored Keller 18-8 in the final period and held the Indians without a field goal for almost four minutes.

"Obviously it was very important to our kids, they knew what was at stake and they knew we needed to win a game," Northwest coach Mike Hatch said. "It was against the best team in our league, but they had beaten them once before, so they believed we could beat them. Keller played better tonight and they are a very good team, but we were better, too."

Neither team could build more than a three-point lead before Northwest's barrage in the fourth.

The loss drops Keller back into a tie with Richland (22-9, 11-2) for first place in District 3-5A, but the Indians hold the tie-breaker for the top playoff seed.

Northwest outscored Keller 84-55 combined in the two district matchups.

Austyn Kennedy led the Indians in scoring with eight points.

Jarret Johnson, 817-390-7760

Twitter: @JohnsonJarret

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