Dayton, OH — It was a quiet afternoon as football fans stayed home to watch the playoff games but Belmont and Northridge still had a great game. Northridge came into this game as dropping a tough loss the night before to Meadowdale who came back from behind to seal the victory. Belmont had not played for about eight days entering this contest and four-star big man Shawn Phillips who already has offers from Ohio State and other D-I schools was playing in just his 6th game since returning from a foot injury that kept him out to start the season. Phillips was matched up against Northridge big man Cameron Evans who is avergaing a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds a game. Phillips was locked up most of the first half which opened up opportunities for other players like Belmont guard Randy Latham to succeed. Latham got a steal and score to put the Bisons up 7-4 early. Then Belmont senior Logan Moore and Latham both tacked on some layups to make it a 13-6 advantage before Northridge burned a timeout. Northridge guard Isaiah McCallop hit a three ball to make it a 15-9 game at the end of the first quarter. Northridge junior guard Jamel Crusoe shut down the gym with a massive one handed slam that sent the Polar Bears crazy. Then just a couple plays later Crusoe hit McCallop who nailed the open three off of a fornutate bounce to give Northridge a 19-18 lead. Northridge added on to their lead as Chad Florence hit a cintestetd layup and McCallop hit yet another three pointer to give the Polar Bears 24-19 lead. Randy Latham hit two layups to cut it to just a one point defecit going into halftime. Both teams came out of halftime kind of lathargic but freshman Antaune Allen got the scoring started for Belmont as he banked in a three to give the Bisons back the lead and Belmont never looked back from there. Big man Shawn Phillips turned up in the second half scoring all of his 10 points in clutch time and guard Randy Latham finished with a game high 16 points. For Northridge, they were led by McCallop’s 13, Cameron Evans with 11, and Shawn Shehee with 10. This loss for Northridge was mostly due to the lack of offensive production and turnovers in the second half as they couldnt get things rolling after halftime and Belmont took advantage.