By By James Crawford
News Editor
The Northview High School Chiefs evened their record to 1-1 on Monday night with a decisive win over the W.S. Neal Eagles at home, capping off a dominating performance with an 82-53 score.
The Chiefs got started with a three-pointer from John Madison early in the first quarter that was immediately followed with three from Maurice Myles at the corner and never looked back.
The Chiefs never trailed in a game that saw several attempts at dramatic slam-dunks from offensive standouts Shane Johnson and Daryl Cohen.
Cohen, a starter for four years, scored 36 for the night, pushing his career total points to over 1,000, a milestone for not only him but the school as well.
"It feels good," Cohen said. "My team helped me get it. I wanted it the other night, but I rushed myself. Coach told me not to rush myself, to just let my game come."
With the record firmly set behind him, Cohen, along with the team, is focused on what he wants to accomplish the rest of the year. "Coach pushes us to play and I think I can play harder the rest of the season now."
Chief's Head Coach Cliff Gillies, happy with the win, has his mind set on the team's schedule.
"I'm a lot better now that we've won one. We're playing schools over our heads. Everybody we play is capable of beating us. We have a student body of around 400 and we're playing schools with over 2,000 students. We're playing a tougher schedule. I'm glad our kids got this first win under our belts."
The Eagles, 1-3 for the season, mounted several comebacks, narrowing the gap to 17 points before the half, but couldn't keep any momentum going and fell to a 41-point deficit at the end of the third quarter.
"They're a lot better than we are," Eagles Head Coach David Edgar said.
Northview's junior varsity boys team is 1-1 early in the season, and also won in its contest with W.S. Neal on Monday night, scoring a 45-37 victory.
"It's really mostly for the kids. A lot of people have said we didn't have any shooters, and we wanted to show them that we did," Chiefs JV head coach Henry Johnson said of his team's efforts.