Northridge defeats Bishop Watterson behind Carter Mallernee's big night

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Northridge senior Carter Mallernee had two main objectives entering Wednesday’s game at Bishop Watterson.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard was not only hoping to lead his team to a victory, he was also looking to show off his diverse skill set while doing so.

Fortunately for the Vikings, Mallernee accomplished both of those goals simultaneously when he scored in a number of different ways while racking up a game-high 25 points, three assists and three steals to power Northridge to a hard-fought 44-40 victory.

“This, for sure, is the top team we’ve played so far this season, so it was my goal to show people what I can do to help our team win big games,” said Mallernee, whose squad improved to 5-1 overall. “The game started easy for me, because I was able to get open for shots from the outside. But once they realized they had to guard me better and got a lot more physical, I was able to drive to the basket and score in the paint and at the foul line.

“I’ve been flying under the radar this season, so I’m just trying to show everyone what I’m capable of, so I can make a name for myself and get on that radar.”

Mallernee certainly proved to be a clutch player in the fourth quarter, when he went 4-for-4 from the foul line and scored six of Northridge’s 10 fourth quarter points to help hold off a late rally by the Eagles.

“I try to save my best quarter for the fourth quarter, because that’s when most games are won or lost,” Mallernee said. “I have trust in my teammates to get the job done as well, but I’m confident shooting free throws late in games because I work on my foul shooting all the time, so I wanted the ball in my hands with the game on the line in those closing seconds.”

The 2023 Licking County League Player of the Year scored eight of Northridge’s final 12 points overall, as he made a long jump shot with four seconds remaining in the third quarter, and then made two free throws to give the Vikings their biggest lead of the game, 36-31 with 6 minutes, 54 seconds remaining.

After Watterson cut its deficit to one point, Mallernee scored on a driving layup to make it 40-37 with 2:30 left, and then drew a foul while driving to the basket, and calmly sank two free throws with 15.9 seconds remaining to ice the game.

“Carter’s a difference-maker,” said Northridge coach Bill Mallernee, who played basketball at Youngstown State and is Carter’s father. “They were playing physical defense on Carter in the second half, but he’s tough and he drew contact, and made every foul shot in the fourth quarter, when we really need him to.”

Mallernee was deadly accurate shooting from the perimeter in the first quarter, when he was 5-for-6 from the field and scored 13 points to help Northridge race out to a 17-14 lead.

The Division III first-team all-district and third-team all-state selection made a 3-pointer in the first quarter and another in the second quarter to help the Vikings take a 24-23 advantage into halftime.

“Mallernee is a great player,” said Watterson coach Vince Lombardo, whose squad is 4-1 overall. “He’s a tough matchup with his height and length and his ability to play outside.

“I thought we did a nice job, defensively after the first quarter, but Northridge controlled the tempo and were patient until they were able to spring Mallernee open for a shot or a drive.”

Mallernee shot 8-for-15 from the field and 7-for-8 from the foul line, as the Vikings made 14 of their 16 free throws overall. Meanwhile, Watterson struggled at the foul line, going 5-for-12 from the charity stripe.

“Really, the difference was at the foul line,” Lombardo said. “We had been shooting well from the line, but I think we showed our youth by struggling there tonight. Offensively, this was a poor game for us. We didn’t execute or shoot the ball well. We had plenty of good looks on the perimeter, but we didn’t take advantage of enough of our opportunities.”

Senior forward Ethan Payne also racked up 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Vikings, while senior guard Drew Bingham and senior forward Alex Quinlan each scored four points.

“We let their post guys get in position down low too easily, and (Payne) hurt us inside a little bit,” Lombardo said. “Northridge outworked us tonight, but this was a good wakeup call for our guys, because I think we were feeling a little too good about ourselves after winning our first four games.

“We only have two guys back who have much varsity experience, and some of our guys missed a month of basketball because they were playing (for Watterson’s football team which lost in the Division III state final on Dec. 1), so we’re a young team that’s still finding ourselves. Hopefully, we’ll be able to bounce back from this fairly quickly and continue to get better.”

Dominic Theado (13 points) and Landon Johnson (12 points) both played well, and nearly rallied Watterson to a comeback victory. Johnson scored six points in the fourth quarter alone, including a 3-pointer that pulled the Eagles within 38-37 with 3:20 remaining.

Theado scored seven points in the first quarter to help Watterson race out to a 9-6 early lead. The 6-5 junior post player also converted a 3-point play with 15.9 seconds remaining to pull the Eagles within 42-40.

“This is by far our biggest win this year, and one of the biggest wins in our program’s history,” coach Mallernee said. “We had specific game plan in mind and we executed it perfectly. We knew that (Johnson) and (Theado) are really good players, so we focused on limiting their opportunities and getting a body on the boards. Our goal was to limit our turnovers to eight tonight, and we had only seven, so I thought we ran our offense well.

“Carter was hot, shooting from the outside in the first half, but when they tightened up on him, he was tough enough to drive to the basket to draw contact. Carter’s become used to being guarded physically, and he’s already gone through a few uniforms this year.”