Dayton, Ohio — To wrap up the 2019-20 regular season, Stivers hosted Northridge for a rematch of last year’s down to the wire game. Stivers led by Tre Ellis mounted an 18 point comeback to beat the Polar Bears. Now a year later a lot of things are different. Ellis is no longer apart of the Stivers team and Northridge lost its two leading scorers from last season to graduation.
Allen Lattimore got the scoring started for the Tigers with a steal and a dunk. The duo of Cameron Evans and Chad Florence excelled in the first quarter for Northridge as both bigs dominated Stivers in the paint. Dajuan Allen played well in the first as he made a pullup jumper and a putback layup. Northridge led after one quarter 14-9.
Stivers came into the second quarter on fire. An Allen Lattimore and-one and then a jumper suddenly put the Tigers up 19-14. Justin Hamilton and Isaiah McCallop each got a bucket for Northridge to tie the game back up. After both teams traded buckets, Darryl Story gave Northridge back the lead with a steal and score. Stivers led at halftime 28-23 after Dajuan Allen made a jumper and finished an alley-oop to put the Tigers up at the half.
Chad Florence went back to work in the second half as he started the scoring with a turnaround floater in the paint. Isaiah McCallop then caught fire as he couldn’t miss. He 3 three-pointers back-to-back-to-back as Northridge took a one-point lead. Florence’s turnaround jumper made that a three-point lead. Allen Lattimore hit a pair of threes and then Darryl Story finished off the quarter by drilling a three before the buzzer to put Northridge up 47-45 heading into the fourth.
Stivers went on a massive run in the fourth quarter led by Allen Lattimore and Dajuan Allen. Both players couldn’t miss and hit shot after shot to put Northridge away. The Polar Bears went cold in the fourt quarter and had too many turnovers to stay in the game. Stivers finished off the game with a dunk from Lattimore and a three at the buzzer to put an exclimation point on the 77-58 victory.
Northridge will face Kenton Ridge in the first round of the tournament held next week and Stivers will play Northeastern which will take place two weeks from now to begin their tournament run.