Northwestern and Norwyane spilt their games this season in the Wayne County Athletic League and the rubber match if you will is Friday night in the division III district final at Wooster High School.

The Huskies beat Waynedale (59-38) on Tuesday night in a semifinal game.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they were very good in the second half and especially on defense. “Our guys were very determined. The second half they really got after it on defense. We really didn’t play at bad of defense in the first half. The pace was a little slower. I think we missed some shots. We didn’t force a ton of turnovers, a few in that first half. We didn’t finish some plays that we normally have done and didn’t shoot it great from the perimeter, but in the second half we took command,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “Our guys got after it and did a great job of Zach Geiser, Waynedale’s best player, and held him to two points for the game. He had 32 against Norwayne about two weeks ago in the final league game. He has 32 and Waynedale beat Norwayne by 15. So, I was really proud of how our guys played in that second half.”

Northwestern (19-5) beat Norwayne (92-68) on December 6 and the Bobcats (19-5) retuned the favor (57-54) on January 17.

Alberts says Norwayne is physical team that executes very well. “They do a nice job being physical. Coach West does a great job getting them to run their stuff and play at the tempo they play at and play with physicality on defense with attitude. They run great sets. They have great offense. They have a couple of big guys inside that make plays that are juniors in (Jacob) Rupp and (Joey) Raudenaugh and then they have some shooters on the outside. Their best scorer Ben Draper has had a bad ankle. I’m interested to see how he is doing (Friday) night. He did not play very much the other night against Smithville,” said Alberts.

Not that they are going to score 92 again, but Alberts says they would like to tempo to be quick on Friday night. “We have to get the tempo and pace how we want it. I think we have to force them into some turnovers. In both games against them we forced 20 plus turnovers and got the pace how we wanted it. We have to have first shot rebounds. We have to limit our turnovers. Last game against Waynedale we only had three turnovers for the game, which I think was a huge key. If we get a chance to make some free throws, we have got to make them,” he said.

Published 3/06/20

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Northwestern locks horns with Waynedale for the third time this season, this time in the division III district semifinals at Wooster High School on Tuesday night.

The winner will play Norwayne (19-5) in the district final on Friday night. The Bobcats beat Smithville (42-38) on Monday night.

The Huskies scored the last 10 points of the game and beat Massillon Tuslaw (78-70) in a sectional final on Friday night.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they stepped up to the plate against a pretty good Tuslaw team. “Tuslaw is an excellent basketball team, so we are just happy to advance past them. Their big guy had been out 10 games, so I think we could have been playing someone else. They could have been like a 14-8 team, a number four seed. We were fortunate to get past them. Definitely happy how our guys played and we are happy to be playing in the districts,” he said.

Northwestern (18-5) beat Waynedale (17-6) twice during play in the Wayne County Athletic League, (57-42) on December 14 at Northwestern and (85-76) on January 18 at Waynedale.

The Golden Bears have won 10 of their last 11 since losing the second time to Northwestern.

Alberts says they don’t want to play as fast as his team and they have done a very good job playing to their strengths. “They have played very well since we beat them that second time. They have won a lot of close games. They beat Triway, they beat Norwayne, they beat Columbia, they beat a lot of teams and are doing a good job of kind of playing their style,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “If you look at their games it is totally different when they have played us, just the style of how the game is. I am kind of anxious to see how things go (Tuesday) night. They have Zach Geiser and Mason Higgins, that’s who they rely on. If those two score usually they win.”

Alberts says they clearly understand what their assignment is on defense on Tuesday night. “We have done a pretty good job on Geiser in both games. Higgins had double figures in both games on us, but Geiser had eight one game and 11 the other. In one game they had 40 out of their 48, they won like 48-35, and they had 40 points. Against Triway, Geiser and Higgins and (Trey) Barkman are the only ones to score and Barkman had 10 out of 46 points. Three guys score for the game, the two main dudes and one other guy. It just tells you a lot about their team,” said Alberts.

Published 3/03/20

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Northwestern stands in a three way tie for the lead in the Wayne County Athletic League with Norayne and Dalton with just one game to play.

The Huskies play at home against last place Hillsdale.

Norwayne is at Waynedale and Dalton hosts Smithville on Friday.

It was kind of a weird last Friday in the league when Rittman upset Northwestern (82-64,) but Norwayne, then tied with Northwestern, lost when Dalton rallied to beat them (59-54) to create the logjam.

Northwestern coach Mark Alberts Jr. says there are no two ways about it, they just didn’t play well at all against Rittman. “Last Friday was one of the nights that we haven’t experienced much in 22 years. I was a game coming off two nice road wins and an eight game road stretch and we come out against Rittman and completely laid an egg as a team with effort and execution. Give Rittman credit they played really well, but I have never had a team do that where we did a lot of selfish things. We had a lot of our guys try to do too much and we didn’t do very well doing it. Didn’t share the ball very well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Unfortunately, those things happen and when you do that you are not going to beat a team that is definitely on a mission, especially the way Rittman played. We bounced back on Saturday night and played well for three quarters. Against Willard when you play a great team like they are you can’t just play three quarters, you have to play four.”

Willard beat Northwestern (89-70) in a non-conference game on Saturday night.

Northwestern (15-5,10-3) plays host to Hillsdale (4-15,0-13) on Friday night. The Huskies hammered Hillsdale (93-37) on January 10.

Alberts says it has been a struggle this year for the Chargers. “Coach Moore is doing a nice job with his guys. He is doing everything he can to play hard and play together. He is a new coach, but that is his school, he is trying to get his team to play his system and his style and it may take some time before they get everything clicking in the right direction. I know he will have his guys ready to play and play hard, but they have had a rough patch this year,” he said.

Alberts says on Friday night is going to be how they play that determines the outcome of the game. “I have written on our board, it is only about us this weekend. It is not about the other team, it is about what we can to do to help us play better, what can we do to play the right way and do the right things and kind of get ourselves back on the right track, that’s the main thing,” he said.

Published 2/12/20

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Northwestern remains tied with Norwayne for the top spot in the Wayne County Athletic League with two games left, one this Friday, and one next.

The Huskies host Rittman on Friday night.

Last week, Northwestern won two league games on the road, at Chippewa (67-59) on Friday and at Smithville (75-59) on Saturday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says his team was really focused. “It was a big weekend for us. I think our guys needed it, they were really focused for the weekend. They knew what was at stake. They knew we had to have both of them if we have any chance at the league title. They kind of went out and imposed their will and we played well at the end of both games. They were both hard fought games. Chippewa and Smithville both did a great job, which we expected on the road. I was very proud of how our guys responded,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “It was funny, Friday night we found a way to win at the end and guys made plays down the stretch. Then Saturday, we hadn’t lost a back to back game all year. I am very impressed with our guys an very proud of them for that. We haven’t lost a Saturday night game after a Friday night game all year. It just shows you depth and kind of how our guys play to come back on a Saturday and get a “W.”

Northwestern is at home on Friday night for the first time since January 3. Alberts says it feels good. “Our guys are excited. They know we are going to have three of our last four at home. The way it looks a tournament game at home at least as well. We kind of started the year with a bunch of home games and how we are going to finish the year with a bunch of home games if we can find a way to win and move on in the tournament, you never know. It’s nice to get a chance to play at home. Our guys are looking forward to it against Rittman,” he said.

Northwestern (15-3,10-2) plays host to Rittman (7-12,4-8) on Friday night. The Indians lost both of their games last weekend to Norwayne (66-44) on Friday and Waynedale (38-35) on Saturday.

The Huskies hung on to beat Rittman (65-64) on January 4. Alberts says they have to play smarter than they did that night. “I watched the film on that game and took a look at it. Rittman played very well down the stretch of that game. We were up 38-25 and 54-43 late in the game, with like 7:00 to go in the game. I just feel like we lost a little focus. I don’t think we played very smart. Rittman made some big shots, give them credit for making those shots. I hope we are much better this time in those situations. Just being smart and making the right plays. We had some stupid turnovers, we took some bad shots. It was three or four or five different guys that did it and it was like, what are you doing? It was our first league game on the road. We have characteristically not played well in Rittman’s new gym. They last four or five years we have not played well there, so hopefully we are much better here at home against them,” said Alberts.

Published 2/05/20

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Northwestern shares the lead in the Wayne County Athletic League with Norwayne and faces two games back to back on the road this weekend at Chippewa on Friday and at Smithville on Saturday.

They fell back into a tie with the Bobcats when they lost (54-49) at Dalton last Friday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr takes a lot of the blame himself. “I thought I did a good job of preparing them during the week, but I don’t think I prepared them right because of our style of play is different than what we did against Dalton, especially defensively. I was a little worried about them shooting it in at home. The (Jalen) Wenger kid can score. I thought we needed to play a little more man to man than we normally do just to make sure of him and I just think it got us out of our game. We play fast on offense and we didn’t play like that. Now, the weekend before against Norwayne and Waynedale we did, it just happened in the Norwayne game we didn’t finish enough shots and against Waynedale we did. We played the same way both games,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “I am really kicking myself, but our guys also have to be a lot smarter than we were against Dalton. We get a technical in the third quarter on our point guard, which sets him the rest of the game. The guys are more worried about some of the fans and the referees instead of worrying about the game of basketball, so we will be better at that this week.”

Northwestern (13-3,8-2) is at Chippewa (6-9,2-8) on Friday night. The Chips lost by 10 at Waynedale (52-42) last Friday. In the first game between the two, Northwestern came out on top (72-55) on December 27.

Alberts says he is looking for a more solid performance on the road this time. “With coach Shrock they do play hard. They have their best scorer Cooper Davies back for like the last 10 games. So, they are going to come at us with everything they have got. They have some good guards. We won by 17 at home and I honestly though we didn’t play really well. I hoping we come out and play a lot better up there. We played very well last year here at the end of the year, so it is a place we are confident in going to. We know they are going to come out and play hard and we have to match that,” he said.

The Huskies eight game road trip ends on Saturday night at Smithville (10-6,5-5) against the Smithies. Again, Northwestern won the first meeting to the tune of (69-56) on January 3.

Alberts says Smithville has some injury concerns right now, but they must keep their focus if they expect a league title. “Coach (Crey) Coffman does a great job with them. He has got them to believe and play a little differently than they normally play. He has a young group. I know that they think that they can win any game that they can play now and coach Coffman has instilled that in them. I think they have some injuries that are hurting them right now, so they have lost a few here in a row when they have had some struggles against certain teams that they didn’t struggle against earlier in the year. So, we are looking forward to going over there. We are looking forward to going to Smithville and finishing out this road trip hopefully on a high note,” said Alberts.

Published 1/29/20

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Northwestern clings to a one game lead over Norwaye in the Wayne County Athletic League standings and they know what their assignment is starting Friday night at Dalton.

The Huskies slipped a little last Friday when Ben Drapper dropped in a three at the horn and Norwaye beat Northwestern (57-54) and handing the Huskies their first league loss.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says his guys could have played a lot better. “Friday night, we didn’t play very well and if we played well, I would tell you we played well, but we did not. It was one of those games where we forced 22 turnovers. We had 15 steals as a team and we scored 54 points. We were down 11 going into the fourth quarter. At the beginning of the game I think we missed our first six, seven shots. We stole the ball the first three, four times down the floor and couldn’t convert. I really believe it was a great atmosphere for a game in Norwayne’s gym. Give some credit, they did some good things and made some big shots. They made a big shot at the end to win. I just felt like if we had played better like we played Saturday night things would have been a whole lot different. It was two different teams from one night to the next,” said Alberts.

Northwestern beat Waynedale (85-76) on Saturday night.

Northwestern (13-2,8-1), #5 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Dalton (11-4,5-3) on Friday night. The Bulldogs beat Waynedale (62-59) in a league game last Friday. Northwestern won the first matchup (72-70) on December 20.

Alberts says there is no question it’s going to be a challenge for them. “Caleb Reed has done a nice job with them, they have won eight out of nine. We won 72-70 the first time. I felt like that was our worse played game of those five straight league games we played at home. We looked disinterested that night. It was right before Christmas and we played bad inside. Our big guy, Kaden Mellott did not have a good game. J.J. Cline had 20 that game and hit the game winner and he saved us and our bench saved us in the fourth quarter,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We were down nine going to the fourth. Dalton has a great scorer is Jalen Wenger and they have good seniors in Adam Bidlack and Joey Dalessandro and Tyler Baer. They have a good core. They have a good group of kids and Kaleb Reed has them playing well. Caleb played for me, so I know he is going to have them ready to play (Friday) night.”

With a chance to repeat as league champions, Alberts believes his kids will be focused every league night, including Friday. “Our kids want to win the league outright. They don’t want to share it with anybody. Having a one game lead we put ourselves in that spot, so they know what’s at stake. They know they have to go out and take care of business and not worry about and say, hey, Norwayne is going to lose, we have to go out and win every night. The one of other thing that we have kind of banded together. This is an eight game road trip for us. We are 4-1 through a five game road trip and we have three left. We try and take it one game at a time and be 1-0 on that given night. That is the way our guys are looking at Dalton,” said Alberts.

Published 1/24/20

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The Wayne County Athletic League may hinge on this weekend. It could result in a big lead for Northwestern or a tie for first place.

Right now, Northwestern owns a two game lead on both Norwayne and Waynedale and they play both of those schools this weekend, both on the road.

The Huskies beat Akron Manchester (79-65) in a non-conference game on Tuesday night as expected, but coach Mark Alberts Jr. says that was about all that was expected about that night. “It was one of the weirdest nights coaching I have ever had. We had a player miss the bus, who is a starter, and he was going through some rough stuff a home, and made it to the game with about eight minutes left in warmups. We didn’t play him in the game. After we found out what was going on and I feel so bad for the kid. Everybody is out of their routine and the mental part. From the outside looking in who would never know that was happening. We started a different lineup and everybody’s rotation changes. It was just a weird night. Just thankful that at the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter our kids came out and played well, that’s when we made our run. Just thankful to be able to go up there and get a win. Going into the game, obviously, we didn’t expect that. We felt like we had a much better team and would have some success. Just happy to get out of there with a win and get ready for this weekend,” said Alberts.

Northwestern (12-1,7-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Norwayne (10-2,5-2) on Friday night. The Bobcats just beat Waynedale (51-50) in double overtime last Friday.

The Huskies won the first game (92-68) on December 6. Alberts likes the matchups with Bobcats, but kind of expects it will be a different game. “Norwayne is a great team. Coach West does a great job with them. We were very successful the first time and I think it was a double edged sword at that time. We were coming off a loss to Triway and they were coming off two 40 point wins. Our guys had a lot of motivation, especially with the way things kind of went down at practice that week. Had a very good week of practice. Maybe that game was a little misleading. I do like how that matchups went in the game, just how we matchup with them. They are one of the teams that plays two big guys, which helps us out a lot. They just didn’t play one big guy at a time, they played two, and that helps us with the way we press and play. We play two a lot, but we also go to one a lot and play with four small guys an that kind of hurt them the first time,” said Alberts.

Northwestern also beat Wayedale (57-42) on December 13. Alberts says this will be another very good test, but a different kind of test. “It’s funny, Norwayne has a great guard in Ben Drapper, kind of makes them go, and was a first team all-league pick from last year and they have some good size. Well, Waynedale has Zach Geiser and Mason Higgins. Zach Geiser being considered maybe one the top two guys in the league that we go against. I would put our guards in that conversion of being the top two guards in the league with those two guys. Waynedale is built around Zach Geiser and a 6’7” Mason Higgins. So, they present a little different type problem,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “They have won games when those two get 42 of the 49 points this year. It is a different type of matchup, both on the road. This what we have to deal with. We have had three straight road games and we going to check two more off the list this weekend and kind of see where we go from there. Our guys are definitely excited. Everybody says, Norwayne wants the rematch, our guys are ready to play, they know what’s at stake.”

Published 1/17/20

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Wayne County Athletic League leader Northwestern plays at last place Hillsdale on Friday night in the final game of he first round of the league double round robin.

Last Saturday, the Huskies received their biggest scare in a league game when they had to rally to beat Rittman (65-64) to remain unbeaten in conference action.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says he was proud of the resiliency his kids showed against Rittman. “It was one of those games on the road. We had an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter. Our big post player missed a layup that would have made it 13. We are about ready to dismiss Rittman, and he missed. They went down and got fouled, made the first free throw and missed the second and got rebound and made a three and cut it to seven. The rest of that quarter we got outscored and they took the lead,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday. “Fortunately, we made a couple of plays down the stretch and got the lead back, and then they made a couple of big free throws and we made the last shot. Very proud of our guys for showing some resiliency. Sometimes you get in that situation and you can’t deal with it until you are actually in it.”

Northwestern (10-1,6-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, makes the trip to Hillsdale (2-8,0-6) to face the Falcons on Friday night. They lost a couple of league games to Norwayne (65-27) on Friday and Waynedale (77-47) on Saturday. They also suffered a (67-40) setback to West Holmes in a non-conference game on Tuesday.

Alberts says the Falcons have played well in games, but they have not been able to sustain it. “Ryan Moore is a new coach for them is getting his kids to play hard and work hard and be in his system. I know they got their first win against Loudonville the other night. They are going to play hard. We watched them play. I know they have had some rough games here lately. I know they were leading Dalton after the quarter and lost by 10 to them. Played them really tough. I know they have things in there that they are capable of doing. You have to respect every team you play against. It is a backyard rivalry for us. I expect them to come out and play well in their gym on Friday night,” said Alberts.

Alberts says they understand that beating them could make Hillsdale’s season. “We understand that. I think last Saturday really kind of helped put everything in perspective for us. Our guys know what’s at stake. They are not going to sneak up on us. We know we have to go out and play well and put ourselves in position to get another road win and kind of take that next step in the league. We have to have that one game mentality, so hopefully we do that. We definitely know Hillsdale wants to come and get us,” he said.

Published 1/09/20

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Northwestern leads Smithville and Waynedale by a game in the Wayne County Athletic League standings and they play Smithville on Friday night and then Rittman on Saturday in a double weekend in the league.

Last week, they downed Chippewa (72-55) in a league game and beat a bigger school in Grafton Midview (81-79) in a non-league game Saturday afternoon.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says it was another good weekend for the Huskies. “We had two nice wins last weekend, Chippewa game, obviously the league game, that was the most important, but Saturday against Midview I don’t think too many people thought we would win and our guys really showed some resiliency. We turned around and played at two o’clock in the afternoon against a bigger school. Definitely proud of how they played. Two big wins, and we move on to the next and get ready for our league game,” he said.

Northwestern (8-1,4-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays host to Smithville (8-1,4-1) on Friday night. The Smithies lost for the first time this season when Waynedale beat them (62-44) last week.

Alberts says they are greatly improved. “Corey Coffman their new coach from Berlin Hiland does a heck of job with them. He has his guys playing hard. They have some young guys and mixture of returning players. They play hard and it gives them maybe a different look than they have had in the past,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “They have a couple of young guys that started last year as freshmen in Luke Meech and Carter Fath that are leading their team in scoring and things like that. Guys like Tristan Miller and Caleb Keib and Jayden Watts and Derek Pasho, who are veterans are good players. They are just playing a lot better this year with new coaching, so give him some credit with that.”

Alberts says double weekends aren’t easy, but kids should get on the floor and want to play. “You really don’t prepare any for Saturday night until Saturday morning. We are not going to talk at all about Rittman, we are talking about Smithville and focusing on them. The only thing that can hurt sometimes is an injury, but you could have that at any time. I don’t mind double weekends. We play double weekends throughout the year, non-league and league. Guys should be looking forward to playing whenever they get the chance. You only get 22 regular season games a year and you want to take advantage of them,” said Alberts.

Published 12/31/19

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After a poor effort in their first game of the season, the Northwestern Huskies have won their last three and appear to be back in high gear.

They play host to Waynedale in another big Wayne County Athletic League game on Friday night.

The Huskies played three games in four nights and won them all, beating Norwayne (92-68) in their first league game, Clear Fork (83-66) on Saturday and then Kidron Central Christian (70-59) on Monday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they really played hard and well over the weekend. “I am really happy with how our guys came out in those two games over the weekend. I think we put to use what we did in practice. We kind of got back on our edge and kind of the attitude we play with. Play with the pace we need to play with. I think we got back to being aggressive and not worrying about making mistakes and things like that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “I think against Triway we did that and we let things get to us. So, I am really happy with how things went. I know Clear Fork has lost a few, but I think they are a really good basketball team and we played well against them on Saturday night after playing real well against Norwayne on Friday night.”

Northwestern (3-1,1-0) is at home for Waynedale (3-0,1-0) on Friday night. The Golden Bears beat Dalton (54-41) on Friday in their league opener and Akron Manchester (61-47) in a non-league game on Tuesday night.

Alberts says this is another one of the best teams in their league. “They are one of the top teams in the league. We seem to be running the gauntlet here in the row to start the year against the quote, unquote, favorites in the league. We have them at home, and it is nice to have that, but the second time around it is going to be on the road, so we have to take advantage of it being at home this time around,” he said.

Alberts says Waynedale has a couple guys that can really score. He says they want to get them in a tempo that maybe they don’t like. “They have a great guard in Zach Geiser, junior guard, he was a first team all-league player for them last year, about 15, 17 points a game. They have a big 6’6” kid, Mason Higgins, a senior, he had 26 points (Tuesday) night in a game I saw against Manchester. Everybody knows that those two are their man cogs. They make them go and the right guys around them kind of play their role. We have to find a way to at least make it tough for them. We are going to play our style and they have not played against that kind of style yet. I am looking forward to how they attack that,” said Alberts.

Published 12/11/19

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Northwestern lost their first game of the season to Wooster Triway and they are going to have to give better effort because they have to more tough games this weekend in Norwayne in a league game Friday and Clear Fork in a non-league game on Saturday.

Triway outscored them (95-74) last Friday and coach Mark Alberts Jr. was just disappointed in the effort his team put out there. He says they have to play harder. “I was just not happy with our overall effort for the game. I think maybe we didn’t come out mentally as good as we should have and they took advantage of it. We are down 51-40 at halftime, which in some games I have seen this year that is the score of the game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “I knew we had given up a lot of points, but I kind of expected our first group to be a little bit better to start the second half and we were down 18 to 20 in the first four and a half minutes. Definitely a rough start to our first one, but I know that was can be a whole lot better next time out.”

They host Norwayne (2-0) in the Wayne County Athletic League opener for both schools on Friday night. Norwayne put together two pretty good wins against Firelands Conference teams last week in beating Crestview (69-37) on Friday and Mapleton (79-33) on Saturday.

Alberts says the Bobcats are loaded with very good players, who have experience at the varsity level. “Coach (Brian) West has an excellent team. They are one of the favorites in the Wayne County League. They have a lot of guys back. A first team league guy in Ben Draper and some other returning starters in Jake Hanzie and Joey Raudebaugh and Jacob Rupp and Noah Saal played off the bench. They have one guy that is injured tight now in Ameer Cunningham, so he is out. Eli Steiner that played last year and Brenden Lanz, another guy that played last year are in their rotation along with some other guys. They are a solid team and one of the favorites in the league, so we are definitely going to have our hands full,” said Alberts.

In all due respect to Norwayne, Alberts says the keys on Friday night for the Huskies begin with their effort. “It is more about us. We have to play with supreme effort that I thought we gave last year every time out. We can’t just set there are think we are going to show up and win a game. I think that is a big first thing. Against them, one you have to match their physicality, two you have to rebound, and three you can’t turn it over, which is against everybody, but especially them because they rely on their physcialness and they do do a real nice job of rebounding, at least in the games that we saw over the weekend they did a great job rebounding. Hopefully, we can match that here (Friday) night,” he said.

Published 12/06/19

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West Salem Northwestern, always one of the better boys’ basketball programs in this part of Ohio, opens the season on Friday night at Wooster Triway in a non-conference game.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they want to start playing games rather than pretend games. “They are definitely ready for a real game situation. They are tired of scrimmages. This is the first time we have used five scrimmages probably in the last eight or nine years just because of the way things fell. You could definitely tell by the last scrimmage, it was, hey, we are tired of this, let’s get to the real stuff. They are tired of going against each other. I still think though it is really tough to play around holidays and playing at Thanksgiving time just because of the way things are. This should be a scrimmage week and it’s unfortunate the way the OHSAA tried to cram everything in. Our guys are ready, definitely that excitement is there. We are looking forward to Friday night,” said Alberts.

The Huskies won another Wayne County Athletic League title last season and Alberts says they certainly have the elements of another outstanding team this winter. “Obviously, health is the main factor any time you are getting ready for a season and right now we are healthy going into the season. We have three returning starters and then three that played off the bench. It is definitely fun to have that many guys back and then we have some good young players that are pushing to play off that bench and play kind of that style that we played last year. Play real hard and get after it on defense and hopefully wear some teams down and use that bench to our advantage,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “Obviously, Kaden Mellott and J.J. Cline are the household names, but we have some very good guards Max Carlson, Cal Rhamy and Will Schaad are back as well as Manny Siders, who is the sixth guy back. They have a chance to do something special. Hopefully, our young guys are ready to come along and help with that.”

Northwestern plays at Triway on Friday night and Alberts says the Titans are loaded too and it should be a tremendous game. “They are favored to win the Principal’s Athletic Conference. I think they have four starters back, maybe a fifth. They have Chance Wells and Bryce Biggs, two seniors that are very good players that have played since they were freshmen and sophomores. Another guy Kyle Sturgin that played as a sophomore and he is a senior now. He was a sophomore on their regional team a couple of years ago. So, they have some experienced players and they have a younger Wells kid that is a very good guard as well. They definitely present a tough challenge. Playing at “The Pit” is a challenge for anybody,” said Alberts.

Published 11/28/19

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Northwestern is ready to challenge for that top spot again in the Wayne County Athletic League.

They start the season November 29 with a non-conference game against Wooster Triway and then play Nowayne in the league opener a week later.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have played in a lot of competitive scrimmages this month and have looked pretty good. “I have really liked how we have come together as a team. I think that we are working hard. We have had a couple of practices, we have a lot of young guys, where we haven’t had enough energy, and we have let them know that in no uncertain terms. When we have stepped on the floor the older guys know what’s at stake and what we have to do,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “Our scrimmages have been loaded with great teams ranging from Berlin Hiland to Upper Sandusky to Thomas Worthington to Westerville Central to Beavercreek, we have played some great teams, Dover, Ontario, Sandusky. We have tried to prepare ourselves because when you start the year with the way we are going to start with the first three games we are playing Triway, Norwayne and Clear Fork, and all three of those teams, easily could win 18 plus games this year or more. It is definitely a tough start to the season, but we like the way November has gone so far.”

When it comes to things that need improved, Alberts centers mostly on the defensive end of the floor. “I think we have to be better at just little things on defense. Our rotations, our blocking out, because we are very good at playing hard and pressuring and playing the type of “D” that we play, but sometimes we don’t rotate and make that extra rotation and we have to get to that shooter and we have to get to that guy and block him out to get to that rebound consistently. We will do it and then we will miss a couple of plays, then we will do, so that is my biggest thing. Offensively, we have to get better at moving and things like that, but that I think is always a work in progress because we want to dribble too much early in the season,” he said.

Defense is important early in the season, but according to Alberts, it will be a plus for the Huskies if they can turn the game into their kind of tempo. “Last year, our first game we scored 79 points against Triway and they scored 70 just because of the style of play. I think sometimes early in the year you don’t have a style of play developed and it is something like we play like that and we practice it and we practice it in a game, I think if we can get that style working to our favor sometimes kids aren’t ready to play like that early in the year. Once, the season goes a little bit, and you are in more game shape, you have kind of got that. So, I think we have to kind of play our style and hopefully that can wear teams down the way we are going to play early in the year,” said Alberts.

Published 11/22/19

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Northwestern, the winner of the Wayne County Athletic League, meets Massillon Tuslaw, out the Principal’s Athletic Conference, or “PAC-7,” in the division three district semifinals on Tuesday night at Wooster High School.

Orrville beat Nowayne (60-55) in the top half of that bracket on Monday night.

Last Friday, Tuslaw outlasted Wayedale (75-68) in double overtime to advance.

Northwestern coach Mark Alberts Jr. says the Mustangs have been up and down this season. “Tuslaw had a great game the other night against Waynedale. That was definitely a big upset. I thought Waynedale was one of the best teams in our district. Tuslaw has size. They start a 6’8” and a 6’3” and bring a 6’3” and a 6’6” and another 6’4” kid off the bench. Then Zeke Yost and Cole Freidly are their two guards, and they are their leading scorers. I think they had 25 and 24 against Waynedale. They are kind of an up and down team during the year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “They beat Waynedale twice, but they lost to Triway twice, they lost to Orrville twice and lost to Fairless twice, but beat Northwest twice, who was the runner-up in the “PAC.” They are definitely a different kind of team. They played well the other night. They are kind of on one of those up swings now.”

Alberts says he likes the matchups in this game because it looks like Tuslaw has more trouble against smaller, quicker teams like the Huskies. “After watching what they did against Triway and Orrville and they seem to match-up better against a team that is bigger like Waynedale and they had a little trouble matching up against teams that were guard oriented. So, I like our matchups. I look forward to seeing how they match up to our fast pace of play. I don’t think that is something they want to do all of the time. Yes, they are capable of doing it, but they would rather take their time and be at a little slower pace and run their sets and play like that. We are definitely going to try and push the tempo and see what happens,” said Alberts.

Northwestern has been successful keeping consistent with their game plan. Alberts says they aren’t going to change now. “We are going to play our game whether we win or lose. We are going to do what it takes to win, especially down the stretch and make some passes and be patient once in a while on offense. On defense, we are not going to let you look around. We are going to press whether it us the beginning of the game, the end of the game or the middle of the game, we don’t care. We are going to get after you and be aggressive and make you have to work because I think if people are comfortable then they can kind of do what they want. We have tried to make teams uncomfortable all year win or lose. That is the way we are going to go down swinging here in the tournament,” said Alberts.

Published 3/05/19

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Northwestern, the winner of the Wayne County Athletic League title, begins tournament play against a team that they have already beaten twice this year in the Smithville Smithies, in a division three sectional final, at home, in West Salem.

It has been almost two weeks since the Huskies (17-5) have played a game.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have been working a lot on their shooting and he believes that is going to help a lot, especially being at home. “Last year, we played in the first tournament game, but we still had like 10 days off since we played on that last Saturday until we were off until that Tuesday, his year we are off until Friday. Fortunately, we played at home and we shot pretty well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “I really believe it was because we go to do a lot of extra shooting, work in our gym, not over do it, but I think that time and that preparation when you are playing a home game is a lot different than if you are going to a site when you haven’t played in two weeks. I think that is a big difference and hopefully that will help us (Friday) against Smithville.”

Northwestern beat Smithville twice this season in league games, downing the Smithies (78-59) on January 11 and (79-40) on February 15.

Alberts says Smithville, who beat Wellington (49-45) Tuesday night in a semifinal, knows what their strategy will be, and that’s okay. “There are no secrets with us anyway. We only know how to play one way, so we will try and figure that out and hopefully play with the same intensity we were playing with. I think personnel wise you know exactly who the people are. They have a guy back that didn’t play in the last game against us, he is a freshman guard, so they will be improved there. Their leading scorer is out, Luke Meech, because of a turn meniscus in his knee unfortunately, he is a freshman guard/forward. Without him it kind of changes their scoring output. I give them credit, they played really hard the other night against Wellington,” said Alberts.

Alberts says they don’t want Smithville to hang around in this game and they have been working on getting a good start. “(Wednesday) we are working on preparing and we are going hard for our last day to go real hard and the last thing we did, we did a little time score situation and we treated it like the first quarter. We had it 0-0, eight minutes on the clock, and practice how we were going to come out and start the game, and just trying to get that point across to them, you have to start well. They may play really well, but we have to start well too. You can’t come out with that, hey, we won easy last time, that can’t be the attitude, and hopefully we got that point across to them,” he said.

Published 3/01/19

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Northwestern is going to be able to put a number on their banner indicating boys’ basketball titles won in the Wayne County Athletic League, but they want that title all to themselves.

A win at home against Smithville on Friday night will do just that.

Right now, they lead Norwayne and Waynedale by a game.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have taken the word sharing out of their vocabulary this week. “We are only looking at winning the title outright. They players don’t want to share with anybody else. It has been a goal of theirs all year. They are focused. In this situation it was a lot more about ourselves with what we did this week. We went over some things that Smithville did defensively. We prepared ourselves. There are not a lot of things to go over on them. It is about how we are playing right now,” said Alberts.

Northwestern (14-5,11-2) beat Smithville (78-59) on January 11 in the first meeting between the two.

Alberts says no disrespect to the Smithies intended, but this week they have been working more on polishing what they do rather than things that Smithville might be running. “Sometimes you have to go over stuff that people run, certain set plays. You can also try and take some of that away by just doing what you are good at. I think that is the best thing that we can do right now. Just do what we are good at, don’t try and be something we are not. Our guys are definitely buying into that,” he said.

Northwestern might play Smithville again in the tournament.

Speaking of the postseason, Alberts says the players are having a hard time understanding why Norwayne in the top seed in their division three tournament and not them. “Our guys and looking for respect. We got a number two seed, but three teams in the tournament voted us a three seed. A team that is the number one seed didn’t win the league. We had less losses in the league than the team that got the number one seed,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “I think we like where we are at. We like where we stand. We play the winner of Wellington and Smithville and we will focus with that once we are done with Smithville and Orrville this weekend. Our guys are really looking at that respect factor. Hopefully, that will motivate them through the tournament run.”

Published 2/15/19

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For the second night in a row, Norwalk battled a league leader and came out on top.

After beating Lexington (46-40) on Friday night, the Truckers came to Northwestern Saturday and beat the Wayne County Athletic League leaders (55-50) in a hotly contested non-conference game.

“That is what people have to realize. Northwestern was 14-4 coming in. We are playing at their place. They had a lot of energy. I thought this was a good win for us. Northwestern really played hard,” said Norwalk coach Steve Gray.

It was the Huskies having their way early, leading by as many as six (10-4) after a Kaden Mellott basket with 4:35 to play in the first. It was (14-13) Northwestern after one quarter.

Norwalk took its first lead (17-16) on two free throws by Brandon Haraway with 6:43 to play in the half. The lead seesawed until Norwalk scored seven of the last nine points of the half, five by Haraway, to take a (28-23) lead into the locker room.

In the third quarter, the Truckers seemed to take command, leading (49-40) after 24 minutes of play, but the could never quite shake the Huskies. “In the third quarter we were really good. Our spacing was good. We knocked down shots. Our big problem was then in the fourth we became unorganized. We didn’t have people in the right spots offensively and I don’t know what the reason for that is. If we can’t get them in the right spot, that’s coaching and we will take care of those things next week,” said Gray.

Haraway led Norwalk with 19 points. Mellott had 20 for the Huskies.

Northwestern (14-5) has a chance to win the Wayne County Athletic League outright with a win over Smithville on Friday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. was pretty excited by how they played against what he called the best team on their schedule. “I am proud of our guys. I am so pleased with how they played and the effort they gave against a really good team, a team that possibly could be in Columbus this year. I think our guys believed whole heartedly they could win the game. I loved our effort on the defensive end. They are tough to guard, especially when you have a division two signee, who can take over a game. I felt like we made it at least a little tough for him at times,” he told Swankonsports.com after the game, “Obviously, he made some great plays. Our guys getting 16 steals against them, you can’t ask for more than that. Unfortunately, when you don’t make shots, especially in the first half. Instead of being down 28-23, I definitely thought we should have been up at halftime a couple, maybe four, and that would have made it a little different in the second half.”

Northwestern never went away and came after Norwalk with all they had in the fourth quarter, getting to within four (54-50) on Will Schand’s three with :18 left in the game.

The Truckers (16-2) have won 14 in a row and have not lost since early December. Gray says they have not been playing the little sisters of the poor. “I was looking at our record and I think we have played 12 teams with winning records. The Firelands, we have played potentially their league champion, the Wayne County League Champion, the “OCC” champion, the league Cardinal Stritch is in, they are probably going to win their league. We have played five conference champions during this time period. Our schedule is getting us ready for what is coming up in three weeks,” said Gray.

Northwestern will likely have the first seed in their division three district and Alberts says they will benefit from the experience of playing a team like Norwalk. “I told our guys I would much rather have a game like this than a game when you go out and win by 40 points. I think this is going to help us down the road when we play in that first tournament game whether it by March 1 or February 27, whichever it is, it is going to help us because we were in a tough situation and had some adversity. If we are fortunate to win a game or two in the tournament and get in that district semifinal or district final you are playing against good teams. So, playing against a team like this they can recall some of the things that happened and use that and learn from it. Hopefully, do something a little different to have some more success,” said Alberts.

Norwalk is a better team than they were earlier in the year because the kids around Haraway, maybe the best player we cover, are improved.

The Truckers play Cardinal Stritch on Tuesday, but Gray says they are really looking forward to their showdown with the Sandusky Blue Streaks on Friday, they share first place in the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference. “They are a lot better. Madison, that is an eternity ago. Our main focus now has to be to get better. Yes, we have a game on Tuesday, but the most important game of the season is next Friday. That is a chance to put a number up on the banners. We need a league championship and it goes through Sandusky,” he said.

Published 2/09/19

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On Saturday morning, the Northwestern Huskies were thinking boy I hope we didn’t blow this, but what a difference six days makes.

After slipping into a share of the Wayne County Athletic League lead with Waynedale after losing to the Golden Bears (77-69,) the Huskies have regained the lead to themselves with a (67-55) win over Dalton on Saturday night and a (85-54) win over Hillsdale on Tuesday. Also, Norwayne beat Waynedale (56-41) on Tuesday. The Bears and the Bobcats both trail Northwestern by one.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. is proud of how his kids responded to that loss to Waynedale. “We could have won the Waynedale game. We could have won the Norwayne game before that. We had chances in both games. Unfortunately, we didn’t. You can blame us in a lot of those areas for what didn’t happen. I am very proud of the guys for coming out on a Saturday night on a double league weekend and getting the win against Dalton also Tuesday night having a really good win against Hillsdale at home. We kind of got, I don’t want to say confidence back, but we had that bounce in our step. I saw the guys do some things on the floor that we hadn’t done for a while, played loose, played kind of how we need to play, especially on the offensive end and hopefully that carries over to (Friday) night,” said Alberts.

When you are dealing with teenagers, Alberts says building their confidence is big factor. “You have to go out and make plays sometimes if it is in practice or in a game situation, in a real game. In a game situation in practice, you have to make that three pointer, we have to make our threes, you have to make that layup, make the extra pass and then make the shot. It is easy to say to do it, but until you actually do it, do it a few times, so you are confident that you can do it then the guys are starting to think I don’t know if I can make this is a game it has been a while, I haven’t made it in a game in while,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday,” So, it was really good to have those two games the way they were. We made some really good plays, those unscripted plays, those plays that we were making a lot early in the year, we started to see that again Saturday and Tuesday.”

Northwestern (14-4,10-2) is at Chippewa (8-9,6-6) on Friday night. In their first meeting, the Huskies won (76-53) on January 5 and Alberts believes they will be more focused than they were that night. Chippewa is coming off a big win last Friday when they beat Norwayne (63-49) to stop the Bobcats from sharing the lead at the time. “The halftime score of that game was 16-13, Chippewa beat Norwayne at Norwayne. Definitely a surprise. It wasn’t like Norwayne turned it over, they just couldn’t make any shots. Chippewa did a good job in the second half seizing the opportunity to win the game on Norwayne’s floor. Coach Shrock at Chippewa has done a great job with them to get them to play at a level he needs them at. They have won seven out of nine or something like that. Give them a lot of credit. The good thing is, and I really believe this, the last time we played them I think we looked ahead because we had just beaten Dalton on a Friday night 89-86, played Chippewa on Saturday, and had Waynedale coming in on Tuesday. We didn’t play well the first half, and I really believe we were looking ahead, there is no reason to look ahead, these guys know what’s at stake,” said Alberts.

Published 2/08/19

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Northwestern clings to a one game lead in the Wayne County Athletic League standings and they must play at Waynedale against the Golden Bears on Friday night, with that lead hanging in the balance.

Norwayne hosts Chippewa on Friday night.

On Saturday night, Northwestern hosts Dalton, Waynedale is at Chippewa and Norwayne is at Smithville.

Things got closer last Friday night when Norwayne beat Northwestern (81-79) in double overtime at Northwestern.

Huskies coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they didn’t play as smart as they should have and they didn’t get any help. “I don’t think we were at our best at all during the game on Friday night. That is unfortunate because we still had a chance to win in regulation and the first and second overtime. I was very proud of how our guys responded when we were down nine in the fourth quarter. We hit a three that put us up one with 30 seconds to go in the game. So, we battled and battled back. Love our grit and our effort and our toughness for doing that. I didn’t think we played very smart throughout the game. Hard, smart and together is kind of what we hang our hat on. We played hard and we played together, but we didn’t play very smart,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “The unfortunate part is when you have 29 fouls called on you and have three guys foul out including two starters, all three are among our eight guys that play all of the time. It is very tough to combat that when you are trying to beat an excellent team like Norwayne and you lose three of your guys that would be on the floor possibly in those situations. So, tough from that aspect as well.”

Northwestern (12-3,8-1) is at Waynedale (13-3,7-2) on Friday night. The Huskies won the first meeting (82-73) on January 8.

Alberts says there is no question the Golden Bears have some talented kids. “Waynedale has a very talented duo of players, really trio. They have a 6’6” junior in Mason Higgins, who on a given night could be as good as anybody around and then they have two guys that could be player of the year in our league in Derek Reber, who is a 6’4” perimeter player slash guard/wing and then Zach Geiser, 6’0” guard. They can both shoot and hit the rack, they are excellent players, who have really worked at their games. Reber being senior and Geiser being a sophomore. They have some other very good players don’t get me wrong, but those three are as talented as anybody we face on a nightly basis,” said Alberts.

Alberts says Waynedale is tough to beat on their floor. He says they have to get their share of rebounds. “Waynedale’s gym is different than other gyms. The court is the same as our court because we don’t have the 94 foot court, but in their gym the court feels smaller and they play aggressive and sometimes they extend their zone and do some things different in their own gym. We have to handle that type atmosphere. We have to rebound the ball against them. They are the biggest team in the league just with three of their starters. If you combat that pressuring and rebounding, holding them to one shot. They are talented, they are going to score, but when they do make mistakes you have to at least make them pay for it. Hopefully, we can do that,” he said.

Published 1/31/19

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It’s a night with a big opportunity for the Northwestern Huskies. They can pretty much eliminate Norwaye from the Wayne County Athletic League race by beating the Bobcats on Friday night.

Right now, Northwestern, unbeaten in the conference, leads Norwayne and Waynedale by two games. Waynedale plays at Dalton.

Northwestern escaped an upset bid last week beating Rittman (57-53) after trailing by 18 in the first half.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. was pleased with how his kids responded to being behind. “It is such a long season and these are some dog days and I really like our progress that we have made. Take going into the new year between Christmas a New Year’s is always an interesting time, it’s hard to classify, and then we hit January first and you can kind of start over and we feel like we have done some very good things. They knew last week our first half against Rittman was as bad as we have had this year and I didn’t have to yell at them at halftime going into the second half they knew,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We got better in the second half and we got better to the point we used something we haven’t used in a while and maybe that can help us in the second half of the season because we know we can do it. They know what is in front of them because they know what Norwayne brings.”

Northwestern (12-2,8-0), #3 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays host to Norwayne (12-2,6-2) on Friday night. The Huskies beat the Bobcats (76-64) at Norwayne on December 21. Norwayne was upset last Friday when Dalton hit a late three to beat them (57-56) and drop them two back.

Alberts says the Bobcats are loaded with talent, especially their guards. “They have very good guards with Quinn Hiles and Ben Draper, those are their leading scorers, probably 15, 16 a game for Hiles, and Drapper is probably in that 12 to 13. They have a big guy that has 22 on us the first time name Joey Raudebaugh, he is a center. They have some good weapons in their young kids. Hiles is the only senior. They play real hard. Coach (Brian) West does a great job with them. They are not 12-2 without a reason. They are a tough team and a tough team to beat. We know what’s at stake,” he said.

Alberts says he is happy to be at home for this game on Friday night. “We know that they are going to be desperate. Our guys, I am very proud of them, we are playing at home at the right time. This could be us playing up the road and that’s even tougher when you go to somebody else’s house when they are desperate like that when you have a chance to get a piece of the league they are going to do anything the can. It is tough to do when you are on the road. You have a lot of things against you. Our guys are pretty excited to play and the crowd, things like that, and being in loud gym. I guess that is why I am happy we are not playing them at their place right now with this much at stake and this much on the line,” said Alberts.

Published 1/25/19

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Northwestern, the leader in the Wayne County Athletic League, begins the second half of the league schedule at Rittman on Friday and at home with Hillsdale on Saturday.

They lead Norwayne by game in the league standings.

On Tuesday night, the Huskies downed Akron Manchester (78-66) in a non-league game.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they weren’t necessarily ready to play, but they got better as the game went along. “We looked for a little bit like it was a Tuesday night non-league game. We played like that at times in the first half. We were down two at halftime. You could tell they were upset at halftime. We just talked to them about playing hard and doing consistently what we need to do. We played a lot better in that third quarter. I think we were up (55-45) going into the fourth,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “It wasn’t in doubt, we got up by 16 and we kind of traded baskets. Our guys are looking hard at getting into the league. They know what is in front of them in the league and having that non-league game in there, it was nice to play a game, but they are really focused on Friday night here with Rittman.”

Usually games in the second round of a league double round robin and more competitive and Alberts says that is because there is more familiarity there. “Teams know each other. It was our third game of the year and it was everybody’s first league game, so it has been a while since we have played them. I think it will be interesting to see how things play out in the game. Usually games are closer because you know each other a little bit better. We have to go up there and Rittman is not always an easy place to play,” he said.

Northwestern (12-2,7-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Rittman (5-4,3-4) on Friday night. The Huskies won the first time (79-48) on December 7.

Alberts anticipates some chances in what they will see from the Indians on Friday night. “I expect a little different starting lineup than the first time we played them. They have two seniors in Connor Stuart and Evan Ringer, two returners that played a ton for them last year. They are the leaders of their team as we thought. The younger Ringer, (Reese) Ringer had double digits against us the first time we played them and didn’t start. I expect him to start this time. I expect him to start a couple of other different guys. They are a team that is formattable, but hopefully we can pressure them and get after them like we did the first time and put ourselves in the same position,” said Alberts.

Published 1/18/19

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Northwestern leads the Wayne County Athletic League standings by a game and they need a win over second place Waynedale at home Tuesday night or it will create a logjam at the top.

The Huskies beat Dalton (89-86) last Friday and Chippewa (76-63) on Saturday in league games.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says in neither game did they play well for 32 minutes, but they still did enough good things. “We did a lot of good things at times, but it wasn’t two of our maybe complete games. I thought Friday night offensively we did a lot of great things, but we gave up 86 points. Saturday, I thought we did some really good things offensively and defensively, but then down the stretch of the game we had 20 turnovers and 13 missed foul shots, so definitely some areas we can be a lot better at. We were happy to win those games and kind of keep our pace in the league,” he said.

Northwestern (8-3,5-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, hosts Waynedale (9-2,4-1) on Tuesday night.

Alberts says the Golden Bears have a nice blend of talent and experience. “The Bears are very good. They have a lot of size. They have three returning players that are as good as anybody in our league in Mason Higgins, Zach Geiser and Derek Reber, who maybe be one of the best players in our whole league. He is definitely a tough matchup for anybody at 6’4”, 6’5” and can play the perimeter, play anywhere. Then Philip Brewer started for them last year and Chase Murphy came off the bench. Their five starters are experienced players for a team that lost in a district semifinal and won our league. It is definitely going to be a challenge (Tuesday) night,” said Alberts.

When it comes to keys Alberts doesn’t waiver much, but he says Tuesday night it is going to be rebounding and limiting turnovers. “There are three things that I always look at in every game, but maybe turn them around and put them in a different order free throws, rebounding and turnovers. I think (Tuesday) night our rebounding and turnovers are going to be premium and free throws also, but maybe not at the forefront. If we don’t rebound the ball they are going to kill us on the glass,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “I watched them play South Central and South Central bothered them with all kinds of pressure. South Central didn’t shoot well and they were just so much bigger than they were. Offensive rebounds and Phillip Brewer, who isn’t even one of their good scorers, had 11 points and nine rebounds in that game. We can’t turn it over against their zone and make free throws, but the turnovers, if we limit them we are going to get plenty of shots, with the way we are going to play. The third thing in we have to make sure our defensive pressure actually creates something. I think they will struggle against it. I think South Central made them work, they just had a rough shooting night that game.”

Published 1/08/19

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Northwestern leads the Wayne County Athletic League standings this week by a game over Wyanedale and Norwayne. They play at Dalton of Friday and at home against Chippewa on Saturday in a double weekend.

Although they suffered just their second loss of the season last week to Columbia (73-58,) coach Mark Alberts Jr. feels they have come through the holidays in pretty good shape, especially after a (75-73) win over Midview on Saturday. “We won our two games right before Christmas and stubbed our toe a little bit against Columbia and bounced back with a good win against Midview, a division one school that has some good athletes at an Elyria Catholic gym with a tournament atmosphere, definitely happy with how we bounced back there. I saw the Columbia game coming because of the holidays. It was one of those with a two hour JV game, 46 fouls there, and overtime, an hour bus ride and we didn’t play well. Maybe it was a good wake up call for our guys and we had to be ready. Happy to get back into some routine and get ready for a double weekend, starting with the Dalton Bulldogs on Friday,” said Alberts.

Northwestern (6-2,3-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Dalton (2-6,1-2) in Friday night. The Bulldogs lost to Garaway (59-55) last week.

Alberts says this a little bit of a different Dalton team than they are used to facing. “They have always had a lot of returning guys and it seems like they had always had scorers and role players every year that fit together. They were never without a stud player. This year their best player is a freshman. He is averaging about 15 a game right now, a very good player. They have never had to rebuild like that. They have a good junior in Joey Dalessandro, but he has been injured a little bit here at the start. He may end up being their best player,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “They don’t have this guy coming back that they have had in the past, who has started for three years, a couple times all-league pick, and they seem like they have had a lot of that in the past 8-10 years. They are going through a different process. When you go to Dalton everybody still struggles to play there.”

The Huskies host Chippewa on Saturday and Alberts says they will be well coached and do some things pretty well. “B.J. Schrock is the coach now, and his dad Denny is the girls’ coach, and obviously they are good every year. B.J. has done a good job of getting his kids to play at a high level, even if they aren’t as talented as other teams. They have couple of really nice players in Charlie Henegar and Cooper Davies, so they have some talent. They don’t have a lot of depth and they are still searching to see who they have, but coach Schrock does a really nice job with them. They are a team that you have to account for every year,” he said.

Published 1/03/19

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It is a big game in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday night as Northwestern is at Norwayne.

They are co-leaders in the league standings, the only two to win both league games this year.

Northwestern beat Hillsdale (62-47) last Friday and coach Mark Alberts Jr. is pleased with what he has seen so far. “We started out that first weekend against two really good teams in Triway and Clear Fork. Clear Fork has not lost since they played Lexington. I thought in that game we actually played pretty well and just couldn’t finish some plays. We got the victory against the Titans. Rittman has lost once and we beat them at our place in our first league game and we won our first league game on the road. With what has been in front of us our guys have done a good job. We are definitely ready to get on the road here and play Norwayne, who seems to be everybody’s darling this year,” he said.

Northwestern (3-1,2-0) is at Norwayne (6-0,2-0) on Friday night. The Bobcats won a big one last week in beating Waynedale (54-52) in a conference game. They overwhelmed Loudonville (62-18) on Tuesday night in a non-league game.

Alberts says they can score in the post, but their perimeter players, especially two of them, are really impressive. “Coach West does a good job getting them ready to play and getting them to play hard and play their style of basketball, which is a physical brand of defense with solid fundamentals. This year they are playing faster. They have more guys on the perimeter that can score. They have a good blend. They have two big guys, if you can call them big guys, about 6’3” kids, and they don’t usually play at the same time. They have five perimeter players that are really good,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “They kind of play multiple positions. One of the is a senior Quinn Hiles, he has played for four years. He will get 15, 17 a game. Ben Draper, who is a junior, who is really good, and he is getting about the same number of points. They had 40 of their 54 when then beat Waynedale last weekend, so obviously those are their two main guys.”

When it comes to keys to winning, Albert says they have to rebound and they must force some turnovers with their pressure defense. “One, we have to force them into some turnovers and play our style. Two, we have to rebound the ball. We can not give them second chances if they miss. They are long athletic guys, who play hard and crash the glass. In the past when we have had success against these guys that are playing them game, we have pressured them, we have forced them into being jump shooters, contested jump shooters, not wide open shots and we have done a good job rebounding. Playing over in their gym it is not easy to shoot there. I watched the other night and the away team got a lot of shots they just couldn’t hit one, give Norwayne some credit on that, but also they took some bad shots and you can’t take bad shots against them because they are known to get out and run. This year they are looking to run a whole lot more than they have in the past,” said Alberts.

Published 12/21/18

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Northwestern ventures on the road for the first time in Wayne County Athletic League play on Friday as they visit Hillsdale to take on the Falcons.

The Huskies won their league opener last week handily over Rittman (79-48) last Friday. They have won two of their first three.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. has been pretty pleased by what he has seen on the floor. “We are pretty happy with what we have had the first few games. I wish we could have had a better second half against the Clear Fork Colts. We are trying to make sure we get better here with our first road league game. The guys are doing a really good job of just being focused on the one game that is front of them. I definitely happy and hopefully we can keep improving each time out,” he said.

Focus is something coaches talk about all of the time and Alberts, a winner of more than 300 games, says there are a number of ways to get it. “Sometimes we have to motivate them in different ways. They need different kinds of motivation. Maybe you motivate them by saying someone is disrespecting them or put them back a position where they have to find an edge. There are other times when you don’t have to motivate them, they know what’s at stake. It depends on certain games and certain times when you are playing,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “Right now, we are just trying to keep them playing because we are getting towards that Christmas time where you are getting out of your routine. We have had four good days of practice this week and I am looking forward to getting back on the floor. Then we will have four more days of practice next week. Then we will have a lot of games in a short amount of time without practice once we get to Christmas break.”

Northwestern (2-1,1-0) is at Hillsdale (1-1,0-1) on Friday night. The Falcons opened their season last week after a successful football season. They lost to Waynedale (64-40) in a league game Friday night. They beat Mansfield Christian (54-39) on Saturday night in a non-conference game.

Alberts says they are going to need to play with a lot of effort on Friday night because the Falcons will. “Coach (Eric) Nickles does a really nice job for Hillsdale. They have Tyler McFadden, who can really score, about a 6’4” kid. He is their best all around player. Carsten Betson is a guard for them and he has had some good game here early. He had 16 against Waynedale on Friday night and I think he had double figures again Saturday when they beat Mansfield Christian. Those two guys are their main guys. They are going to play hard. Coach Nickles gets them to play really hard for him. We are just hoping to go on the road and play as hard as did our last time out against Rittman at home. We want to play that hard and hope things fall into place after that,” said Alberts.

Published 12/14/18

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Northwestern entertains Rittman in the opener in Wayne County Athletic League play for both schools on Friday night.

It was one up and one down for the Huskies last week. They beat Wooster Triway (79-70) on Friday and lost to Clear Fork (72-59) on Saturday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. thinks they played better in the loss than they did in the win. “I thought that the Triway game was a nice opening win, but I didn’t think we played that clean of game. I thought we did some good things at times during the game. Triway is an excellent basketball team, and I think you will see that here coming up. I think Clear Fork is really good and I thought we played a cleaner game that night from an overall standpoint, we just didn’t shoot it very well. The second half we didn’t have the same kind of intensity we did the first half. Give Clear Fork some credit, they played pretty well that second half too. So, we are glad to be 1-1, but definitely know we have a lot of improving to do as we go forward,” said Alberts.

Alberts, one of the more consistent winning coaches in North Central Ohio, says when it comes to the improvement of a basketball team, he believes it comes in stages. “I think you will see improvement (early,) especially if teams haven’t played that well, but in basketball it is even more about the beginning season and once you get past Christmas and then into that new year and then you have that end of the season into the tournament. I think there are four or five different parts to it that you can really see some distinct improvements. You can find a way to rectify things. I think we are big part of that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “Two years ago, we didn’t play really well early in the season, we were 6-5, the year we went to the regional final we won 18 games in a row. Last year, we were 4-8 and finished strong. We were 9-0 one year and we finished 16-6. It can break down differently each year. I not going to say anything until we get to Christmas. We have a total of six games before Christmas, I think that is a pretty good measuring stick.”

Rittman (2-0,0-0) beat Cloverleaf (65-46) last Friday and Kidron Central Christian (51-45) on Tuesday.

Alberts sys the Indians offer some challenges. “I saw them play Central Christian (Tuesday) night and they have some good returning players, at least one starter, and maybe another starter some of the time last year, and couple of other guys that played off the bench. They have some experience, they have some athletically gifted guys that can shoot. They are trying to play 10 guys right now, so I think that will be interesting to see if they do that. I am looking forward to using our style when we play them. Getting after them and pressuring them and seeing where we go from there. I like having that first league game at home,” he said.

Published 12/06/18

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The Northwestern Huskies are a traditional basketball power and to win this year, at least consistently, they are going to have to do it on the defensive end.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says he has been pleased with how good his kids have looked early in the preseason. “It is always fun to start the year. I really like the group of kids that we have got and they are really working hard. I am very proud of their effort they are putting in each day. We are almost hurting our offense right now because I think we could be a very good defensive team this year, even more so that a lot of other years in the past. We have a lot of athletes and we can use 10 guys and press. I think that is something we are really stressing. I really like what I have seen so far. It probably hurt our offense Saturday in a scrimmage, but our defense looked very good and we pressed for six straight quarters,” said Alberts.

Over the first 10 days, Alberts says they have kind of sacrificed working on offense to sharpen that defense even more. “We need to execute and we need to do it more. Right now, we are concentrating so hard on defense we aren’t doing much on offense in practice. It’s weird to say that and I am an offensive guy too, but I feel we have to concentrate on the defensive side of the ball because I felt like last year we didn’t do well enough in that area and I think that hurt us and probably cost us a couple of games that we should have had especially early in the year. Late in the year I thought we played very well and we did what I asked. It is a double edged sword. We have a couple of weeks to figure that out before, exactly 18 days before we play Triway,” said Alberts.

Alberts says the preseason scrimmages aren’t really about winning games, but instead about working on things you need to work on. “I think that is something that is lost and sometimes people try to win here in the preseason. I sacrificed a quarter that we could have won on Saturday to watch our other guys play against a good team and see what they could do. We maybe could have won had I stuck my starters back in, especially my big kid, and we lost because of it. Okay, I didn’t want to lose,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We tried to win some other quarters, but I needed to see if these guys could play. We missed 10 straight shots and I have never said this any other year, but they were all good shots, we just missed. We got them, and we played hard, we just missed the shots. It would be different I guess if we weren’t getting the shots.”

Published 11/13/18

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Northwestern hosts Norwaye in the third meeting this year between the Wayne County Athletic League schools, this time in the first round of the division three tournament on Tuesday night.

Northwestern (11-11) has been a different team of the last six, seven weeks after a slow start to the season.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says he can see it the way they play. “Our team is much different then we were in the first half of the season. To the point where I went back and watched some film because we are totally different. I am really happy with what they have done. They have had a good week here in practice and we didn’t overdue it. We had a little time to rest from our triple overtime game with Orrville. Hopefully, we can kind get started off on the right foot (Tuesday) night in the tournament,” he said.

The Huskies have not played since a triple overtime win (80-77) over Orrville on February 17. Alberts says the rest has been good for them. “Really I am not concerned with rust for the fact that I think we needed some rest. We had six straight double weekends. I’m sorry most schools now a days aren’t playing double weekends every week. It kind it wore on our guys playing every Friday and Saturday. For them to have a weekend off I think kind of recharged our batteries. It was great for them from that fact. We really haven’t had that much time off from playing. We did a good job of just going about an hour and 20 minutes each day in practice. We just kept things short,” said Alberts.

Northwestern won both of the regular season meetings (54-50) in early January and (72-62) in early February. However, Alberts says the Bobcats are starting to play better. “Coach (Brian) West at Norwayne does a great job with them. He gets them prepared and ready to play every game. They have a lot of young guys, kind of like we do. They have played better here at the end of the year. They beat Smithville the other night. They almost beat Wellington, lost by a point to the number one team in our district,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “I watched them play West Holmes and Northwest, both tough games against good teams and they played them tough last week. Quinn Hiles and Ben Draper are their best players. Quinn Hiles can shoot it from anywhere. We know what we have to do guarding those guys. It is always a test when you are going up against a rival in the tournament.”

On Tuesday, according to Alberts the biggest thing is they need to get done is rebound the basketball. “We need to rebound when they miss. That is one thing we didn’t do the last time. We were up 20 and we got out rebounded by about 10 or 12 that game. We were up 20 with two minutes to go and I think it ended up 10 and that was because of the way the subs played. Rebounding is the number one key. If we give them one shot I think we are going to be a in great shape. The second thing we have to keep the pressure on them and make the game fast. We don’t want the game to be slow. We don’t want to play at their pace. We want to make the game in the 70’s and I don’t think that is where they want it at,” said Alberts.

Published 2/27/18

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Northwestern continues to play good basketball as we close the regular season. They have won six of their last seven.

The loss came to Norwalk (54-39) in non-conference play on Saturday.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr, says they are going to kind of file and forget that one. “We have tried to just put the Norwalk game out of our minds. They are a very good basketball team. After a huge emotional win on Friday and we expended a lot of energy and also the next morning. Three of our players, two starters and our sixth man took the “ACT” and they played like it on Saturday night. We are looking forward to getting back on line with a full week of practice and have the energy that we had on Friday and bring it to the table against Dalton on Friday night,” he said.

Last Friday, Northwestern beat Waynedalle (77-73) knocking the Golden Bears back into a tie for first place with Rittman in the Wayne County Athletic League. The Huskies may play them again in the upcoming division three tournament.

Alberts says the players are alright with that. “There are pros and cons to it. I was very happy that our players were excited about our tournament draw. I was worried they were going to be we really wanted to play this team or this team. A lot of them are excited about playing Norwayne again. We know what we have to get done at home and then possibly playing Waynedale they were excited,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “In their minds they said, coach, we didn’t play our best ball, we won, but they don’t want to play us again. They have that kind of mentality. Our guys are excited to see where the tournament takes us, but they definitely want to finish 9-5 and 6-1 in the second half of league and that is what they can do (Friday) night.”

Northwestern (10-10,8-5) plays Dalton (7-12, 5-8) on the road on Friday night. The Bulldogs won the first game (73-61) on January 13.

Alberts says they want to continue to prove they are a better team in the second half of the season. “They have good seniors. Dominic Dalessandro played on my “AAU” team when my son was in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade. I know some of the boys on that team. They have a great group of seniors with Andrew Kandel and then Alex Alger, guys that have played for three years it seems like, and then Joey Dalessandro. They are a little up and down, sometimes play to the level of their competition or you think they will and they come out and don’t play well. They played really well against us the first time, give them a lot credit, it was in our gym. We are looking to prove people wrong a little bit going over there,” said Alberts.

Published 2/16/18

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Northwestern gets a second chance against Wayne County Athletic League leader Waynedale on Friday night and the Huskies are playing a lot better than they were when they played them the first time.

Waynedale belted Northwestern (83-63) on January 6. Huskies coach Mark Alberts Jr. says that was kind of a low point of the season for them. “The first time we just weren’t playing well at that time. I felt like we were just grinding and shooting ourselves in the foot too many times. I think that we made some adjustments, made some changes. I am hoping we are a little more prepared this time to play them. We have a little bit more of an idea of what to expect, definitely. So, hopefully we can be a little better here on Friday night,” said Alberts.

Waynedale (13-5,9-2) is the conference leader by a game over Rittman and Smithville. They did lose to Dalton (62-59) in overtime their last time out on Saturday.

Alberts says they have a lot of skill. “They are very tall. They have some size at different spots in the floor. They have a 6’4” kid that plays everywhere in Derek Reber. He is a talented player. They play really, really fast, they press, they have three or four guys that can shoot from the three point line. I am very impressed with their style and how they have attacked and kind of changed themselves from last year,” he said.

Northwestern (9-9,7-5) has really turned its fortunes around over the last couple of weeks. They beat Hillsdale (64-32) on Friday and Norwayne (72-62) in conference games last week.

The Huskies play at Norwalk (10-7) of the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Saturday night. Alberts says when you play a Steve Gray coached team you have to be ready for a lot. “Coach Gray always has them going well. It doesn’t matter what time of the year, he is a heck of a coach. Not just because he won a state title (2014) he has been doing that a lot longer than just winning the state,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday. “You have to be prepared to play them. Haraway is really good. He can score from anywhere. He is a really good defender. They have good size inside. They have some shooters and they run good sets. They play in a good league. They do a lot of different things. It is definitely a fun challenge as you are getting close to tournament time.”

Published 2/08/18

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Northwestern has won three of its last four games and their focus now is to get back to the division three district tournament, which they won last year.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have found a way to rise up. “We are trending upward as the now term says and I am very pleased how we have responded from a tough early January. We lost a senior starter who had surgery on his shoulder that was bothering him. He was a real important piece last year to our team. Guys have just kind of risen up and changed their attitude. We haven’t stopped playing hard, we have probably played harder,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “I think we have taken it as a challenge to kind of prove to everybody that we are not what our record is. That is really what impresses me is the guys have a new focus and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Northwestern made a run to the regional final last year. Alberts says he wanted to know the players thoughts on this year. “I asked the guys what they wanted to do? I said can you tell me who the district champion was last year? They kind of looked at me funny and said we were. I said, right, and we haven’t been beaten in the tournament yet. We are still defending champs. I just challenged them and put yourself in position where host a sectional game and go on the road in the sectional final and maybe pull an upset and get yourself in the district again, which is very possible in our district. Right now, they are kind of responding to that challenge,” he said.

Northwestern (7-9,5-5) plays Hillsdale (3-11,2-8) on Friday and Norwayne (5-8,3-6) in Wayne County Athletic League games on Friday and Saturday.

Alberts says Hillsdale is improved. “They beat Mansfield Temple Christian on Saturday. They play Mapleton (Tuesday) night. Mapleton is struggling this year. Hillsdale is much improved from the beginning of the year. I think we have both gotten better since we have played the first time. Eric Nichols is a first year coach and he does a great job with his program. He did a good job at Rittman, where he was girls coach, he gets the kids to play hard. I felt like the first time we played them we didn’t play well for some stretches and that’s why we had to fight hard at the end to win. I’m hoping we play better this time,” said Alberts.

When it comes to Norwayne, Alberts says they are young and still getting better too. “They lost in overtime to Smithville on Saturday night and had beaten Dalton on Friday. They have a lot of young players and they are getting seasoned. They are playing with a little more confidence right now. That is kind of the way I look at Hillsdale, even though there are some veteran guys there. Their young guys are really not their main guys. Norwayne will be a tough match up. It takes us 15 minutes to get to each school, so it’s our two rival schools on the same weekend, at least in terms of proximity,” he said.

Published 1/30/18

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Northwestern won the Wayne County Athletic League title last season and advanced to the regional final in division three, but this year it has been a much more inconsistent year.

If “Old Man Winter” allows they play Dalton (4-5,2-4) on Friday night at home in a Wayne County Athletic League game.

Last Saturday, they were blasted by conference leader Waynedale (83-63) on a “WCAL” game. Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says it was not their best performance and hopefully this week can be different. “We had a little rough night. We didn’t play with the same energy we did the night before and Waynedale played really well. I’m a little disappointed, but I think there are some things we can pull from that. We are going to try and put it behind us, but we know we didn’t perform the way we needed to. We are ready for this weekend we have had a good week of practice and ready to go against Dalton,” he said.

Northwestern (4-7,3-3) plays at home against Dalton Friday. The Bulldogs are coming off a (58-41) loss to Rittman on Saturday.

Alberts says they have a lot kids returning from last year, but he says the Bulldogs are much different. “They have some kids returning, four that start now, they were starting five, but the one guy isn’t starting anymore, so they are a veteran group. They kind of lost a lot of their scoring and they are trying to figure things out, kind of like we are a little bit. I think they are very similar in that fact. I think they play hard,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “They have a new coach and they are kind of different than they have been in years past. They have a new coach it’s not Ben Holt, who went to Triway. It is a different team and we have to adjust to them.”

This season it is a new approach for the Bulldogs. Alberts says they are doing a lot of different things both when they the ball and when they don’t. “They run a lot more set plays. They try and push the ball a lot more and try and score in transition a lot more. They don’t press. They still play similar defense to what they did last year, where they switch every pick and just play half court defense. They never ran this many sets in the past, they ran a lot of continuity and tried to get shots and some isos. They don’t play any zone defense, at least the three games I have seen this year. Last year, they did mix it up a little bit and trap and do some different things. It is something we will have to adjust to, something we haven’t seen,” said Alberts.

Published 1/12/18

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Northwestern seems to be on the edge of being a pretty good team, but they just can’t get there quite yet.

They play at preseason Wayne County Athletic League favorite Rittman on Friday night.

Last Friday, the Huskies lost (71-65) to Smithville in a league game and coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they just had too many dry spells. “Smithville was kind of one of those games where we did not play the way we need to play for the entire game. Smithville is a very talented team with two really good players. I think the rest of their seniors kind of mix together well with them. We didn’t play as well as we needed to for the whole game. This week against Rittman it is going to be very similar. We need to play a lot more consistent for the 32 minutes,” said Alberts.

The Huskies (1-4,1-1) won the “WCAL” last year and advanced to the regional finals in division three. Alberts says the reason they were so good was they didn’t have these kids of lulls and that is what they are working towards. “Good teams play the entire game or they never have big lulls or stretches where they don’t play well. We are trying to get to that point. I think last year there were always times in the game when we didn’t play great, but we didn’t have very many of them and I think that is why we were so consistent throughout the year. So, hopefully that is something we can get to. Going against Rittman is going to be a tough night, but I am definitely confident in our guys that we can get after them at their place,” he said.

Rittman (5-1,1-1) also lost last week when Waynedale (71-66) beat them in a league game. Alberts says Indians have a good mix of players that can do a lot of things. “Their point guard was out and didn’t play in that game against Waynedale. I think that is a little more important than anyone wants to let on. I have watched them play and they are very talented. They have two very good players in William Swartz and Kaleb Bauman. They have had a kid move back in this year that is 6’10” and he is a little better than you realize,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “He is averaging I bet double figure points and four or five blocks a game. He is definitely a difference maker. He is not a great player, but he does some good things. They have those three and then they have a couple of other guys that played last year that can shoot. Their weakness is their bench. It will be interesting to see if we can combat what they have.”

Northwestern plays Colonel Crawford (5-1) in the Steve Smith Classic at the College of Wooster on Saturday. Alberts says it is a game where they will need to be outstanding. “I know that coach Sheldon does a great job with his team. McCreary is really good. He is one of the sophomores. I am anxious to see them and what kind of team they are. I know they had a nice year last year. I am anxious to see how we stack up against them,” he said.

Published 12/22/17

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Northwestern won the Wayne County Athletic League title last season and they are off to a 1-0 start heading into a league game at home Friday night against Smithville.

They beat Chippewa (73-55) last week in their league opener. That is their only win so far, but coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have played a very tough schedule and have been competitive. “We won our first league and it also happened to be at home and that is nice. We lost three other close games to good non-league teams. One team is undefeated in Woodridge and Clear Fork is 3-1 and Triway is 2-1. When you are tied with a minute to go or less in two of those you have a chance to win. It was nice to get off to that good start against Chippewa in the league,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “With Smithville coming in it is definitely going to be a challenge. They are picked to be one of the front runners in the league with Rittman. We definitely have a challenge in front of us on Friday night.”

Smithville (1-2,0-1) lost last week to Waynedale (60-49) in their league opener. Alberts says they have two really outstanding players. “They have two really good players and they probably do 70 percent of their scoring. Jacob Reed is a 6’4” returning post-forward. He likes to shoot the three, posts up a little bit, jumps well. He was first team all league last year. They have a point guard named Trevor Pertee, a solid point guard and he averaged 15 last year. Jacob Reed was picked as the number one player in the Daily Record area. Our guys are definitely excited to play against him,” he said.

Alberts says their plan Friday night is two limit the impact of Reed and Pertee without letting the other Smithies go crazy on them. “We have to make sure we control those two guys. You always go into it wanting to control good players, but they do so much scoring we want to make it tough on them. Waynedale beat them last week and held them to 49 points and they had half of those if not more. So, we want to control them, but not let the other guys have big games. If they do that then you are in trouble. Offensively we are not sure what they are going to do. They beat Orrville playing a certain way and I am kind of anxious to see how they play us,” said Alberts.

Published 12/15/17

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Northwestern is really just a whisker away from being 2-0, but the Huskies are instead 0-2 and looking for their first win in their Wayne County Athletic League opener against Chippewa on Friday night.

After leading after the first quarter in their opener against Wooster Triway they lost to the Titians (56-49) on the road.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says it was a game they had a good chance to win. “Against Triway we are up 20-11 after the first quarter and we have 10 fouls on us in the first quarter and they precede to call seven more on us in the second and I have four starters setting on the bench, two of them with three and two of them with two and another guy with two that had to play. That was not how we wanted to start and we got outscored in that second quarter 19-3,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Now, to start the day my 6’5” 250 pound sophomore center, who was going to be our sixth man got suspended from school and missed that game and proceeded to miss the Clear Fork game. That was another bit of adversity our kids had to adjust to. I was really proud how we fought back and tied it at 49 with a 1:40 to go and give one of their boys credit, he buried a big three and then we missed a couple of threes and turned it over and fouled with like 10 seconds left.”

It was really a pretty similar game in a (68-64) loss to Clear Fork on Saturday night. Alberts says they were right there in the end. “The same thing happened against Clear Fork. We played really well in the first, third and fourth quarter and didn’t play well in the second quarter. We ended up being down eight at halftime after being outscored by nine in the second. We fought back and fought back and tied the game at 64. There was a phantom call with 14 seconds left and Clear Fork is a nice free throw shooting team and they made two free throws and we turned it over. We were inches away from being 2-0 and we end up being 0-2. So, our boys learned a lot and they did some good things. Friday night it a big night for us to kind of get off on the right foot in the league,” said Alberts.

The Northwestern coach says they have this is going to be an important week of practice for the Huskies. “I saw Chippewa, who played Tusky Central Catholic on Tuesday and Chippewa ended up winning 48-36 and they played hard. You set there and watch what they do and think now we are ready and we actually saw the team and go out and be prepared for what they do. I think it is more about matching the intensity and playing at the level we need to play at. I think you develop that by having good weeks of practice and hope that are guys are ready for that. I know that they had a sour taste in their mouth after last weekend. They are excited to be back on the floor,” he said.

Alberts says he expects the Chipps to play hard for their new coach and they do have some returning experience. “They have three guys back from last year that started. We played them at the end of the year last year, I always look at the last time we played them, not the first time. They have a new coach in Denny Shrock’s boy T.J. Shrock. Denny Shrock is the head girls coach at Chippewa. They have a new outlook on their team. Here early in the season they are going to play pretty darn hard and buy into what their coach is saying. I am anxious to see how we respond to it. Those three returning lettermen will be their keys in Spencer Bailey, Charlie Hemminger, and Steven Rose. It should be a fun night here Friday,” said Alberts.

Published 12/06/17

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Northwestern is getting more healthy and that is going to make them a better basketball team.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they got some good news this week and they are about as healthy as they can expect to be more a while. “We have everybody at practice except one guy that ruptured his achilles in June and he is hoping to come back in January some time. It was great at have everybody there. Our one senior Mason Wilhelmy had a shoulder injury. It was kind of interesting because we just wanted him to know if he could play or not this season. I felt bad for him not knowing and once he got the news that he is physically fine with his shoulder just making sure he wasn’t going to hurt it anymore. He is going to go and do as much as he can. This weekend he will get to play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “He won’t start this weekend, but he will definitely come off the bench and get some minutes and see where his conditioning is at and hopefully in the next couple of weeks kind of envision that starting lineup that we had hoped to see.”

Northwestern travels to Wooster Triway on Friday night and hosts Clear Fork on Saturday in non-conference games.

Alberts says there have been some changes at Trwiay, but they feel they are prepared for the Titans. “Their coach is the former coach at Dalton, so I went back and watched a couple of our Dalton films from last year and watched our Triway game from last year, so we know some of Triway’s personnel they have got back. They have had some guys not go out. Three starters from last year’s game against us who were all underclassmen are not playing. Now, their best player is back in Gabe Walker. We are expected that Ben Holt, who was at Dalton and is now at Triway, will feature him kind of the way he did Mitchell Clark last year with Dalton. Gabe Walker is a great player and he got 18 a game last year. That is their only double figure scorer that they have got back from last year. We know what to expect there. It is always tough when you go over to the Pit,” said Alberts.

The Huskies had played Clear Fork in scrimmages for years, but this is the first time they have played them in a real game. Alberts says the Colts are going to be talented, especially at the guard spots. “We have played Clear Fork in the scrimmages, so we at least know some of their personnel. I know they lost a few starters from last year and that great tournament run, but they have some good young players coming back. I know their freshmen class is very good. A sophomore guard, who is their point guard, played on J.J. Kline’s “AAU” team, one of my sophomores and Kade Mellott, another sophomore, they all played together in the summer. We know a little bit about them. It is a little bit weird because we are not scrimmaging them this year and we are actually playing them,” he said.

Published 11/30/17

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Northwestern, the defending Wayne County Athletic League champs, must replace one of the state’s best post players in Derek Koch, plus they are dealing with a lot of injuries, but they just might be okay in the long run.

Coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have a lot of pretty good players that return, but right now a lot of them are hurt. “Every year is new and that is what high school basketball is all about. Unfortunately, you lose some classes and those kids move on. You have new players and different young guys that take their place and new senior classes. We have a lot of nice kids that are coming through our program right now. Our biggest thing is we are just trying to get healthy from football. We have five guys that played a lot of minutes for us last year. One of the boys ruptured his achilles in the summer, so he is out until January, and then we have two boys that played major roles. Two other seniors that played a ton last year, one that started in Park Smith and my son Jared Alberts, that are playing right now. We have a lot of moving parts,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We had a scrimmage where I thought we played very hard (Wednesday) night at Ontario. It was our first scrimmage because of injuries. I’m pleased with the progress we have made since the first practice. It definitely could be an interesting year, but I think health is a major thing with our team moving through the year.”

Alberts says they have been forced to change a lot of what they do on offense, but he feels the kids are learning it well. “We have changed everything this year with our offense and added a lot of different things. We had to after losing a guy like Derek Koch. So, it has taken time to learn that as well, but it is really getting a lot better. I think we will be much better by the end of the season, maybe you might even start seeing it mid season and you will say something has clicked with them. I think we have enough depth and players that we are going to be ready for the start of the season when we go over to Triway on December 1,” said Alberts Jr.

When it comes to the Wayne County Athletic League, Alberts thinks it should be an interesting season with a lot of teams in a similar situation. “We have been fortunate to have a lot of good seasons at Northwestern and we have developed a very nice program, but I think our league is going to be interesting this year because there were graduation losses for every team. I think there is always a team that has a bunch of guys back, but everybody has lost some people. You can point to some people that have played a lot of underclassmen, but we all have, so we are all kind of in the same boat. I am anxious to see where that leaves us and how it plays out in the league this year,” he said.

Published 11/17/17

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