From the hunter to the hunted: Guilford stays on top of NIC-10 boys basketball race
The new champs turned back the would-be newer champs.
And did it the hard way, making a statement that last year’s first title in two decades might not be their last. Guilford ground out a 46-40 boys basketball victory at Belvidere North on Wednesday to remain alone in first place in the NIC-10.
“It was different when we were the ones who were doing the hunting,” coach Chris Dixon said of Guilford winning its first conference title in 23 years last season. “Now we’re the ones who are being hunted. We have to play a lot harder and generate our own energy. We thrive on that, pushing each and every day to make each other better.”
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Belvidere North (12-5, 5-2) has never finished above .500 in the school’s 17-year history but had already beaten preseason favorite Auburn (9-6, 5-1 NIC-10). And the Blue Thunder shut down Guilford’s two leading scorers, holding Malachi Johnson to three points and Jaden Webster to five.
“You tell me we hold those guys to a combined eight (points), I would think we’d win, but they had some other guys step up,” North coach Todd Brannan said.
Players like Jesean Christian (nine points) and Connor Nachampassack-Doyle (eight). And, especially, senior forward Cinco Gary, who led Guilford with 10 points, had two key blocked shots and a bunch of big rebounds.
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“Cinco was really good in the middle of our zone,” North’s Brannan said.
“He was huge tonight,” agreed Dixon. “Cinco has come back and has gotten it into gear. He’s getting his legs back and has gotten some of that rust off.”
Gary missed Guilford’s first five games “for personal reasons” but returned at the start of December. He has been working his way back into the lineup ever since — but says the entire team has been working together better than ever.
“We had to trust in each other as a team to pull out this win,” Gary said. “It feels good. We always knew we were a good team. We just had to come out and prove it.
“Last year we were good at playing together, but not as good as we could have been. Now we are starting to really click together.”
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Especially on defense. Adam Brown led North with 18 points but made only 5 of his last 17 shots after going 3-for-4 in the first quarter. Braeden Brown shot 2-for-8. That’s because Guilford (12-4, 7-0 NIC-10) focused on shutting those two down.
“We call it KYP — know your personnel,” Brannan said. “We had to really pay attention to them.”
“That,” Gary said, “was our No. 1 focus. No help off of them. Don’t leave them open.”
The focus all year has been to repeat as NIC-10 champions. And then go farther in the postseason this time after getting upset in the regional finals by Auburn last year.
“That one hurt the heart, I’m not going to lie, but we’re coming back now,” Gary said. “We know we can do it. We’re coming back to win. We’re coming back to get it all.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Guilford stars have quiet night but Vikings win key NIC-10 showdown
