Brady Scholl stole the show as No. 10 Northridge (12-2) beat No. 17 Penn (9-7) 63-54. Scholl made two game-changing defensive plays down the stretch for the Raiders. First, he chased down Penn freshman star Caleb Coolman to erase a layup. A minute later, Scholl picked the pocket of a Penn ball-handler and took the turnover in for a dunk. The two plays by Scholl helped Northridge secure the road victory.

 

Scholl finished with 21 points, ten rebounds, and seven blocks. Coolman had a game-high 27 points in the losing effort.

 

Early on, Northridge’s Hayden Johnson was on fire from three. He made all four of his three-point attempts in the first half. He also hit a difficult baseline step back in the second quarter. Johnson scored 16 points in the first half.

 

Scholl began to make his impact from the tip on the defensive end first, then started to score more later in the first half. The athletic center blocked three shots in the first quarter to stall the Penn offense. 

 

The Penn offense came from freshman Coolman in the first quarter. He scored eight of Penn’s ten points in the stanza. Coolman knocked down two first-quarter threes and added another in the second period. Coolman had 13 first-half points.

 

Ethan Good came off the bench to score the other eight first-half Penn points, including a fastbreak and-one and a pull-up three off a ball screen. 

 

Northridge looked poised to blow the doors off Penn in the third quarter after Kam Radeker made a couple of threes. His transition triple pushed Northridge’s lead to 44-28, but Penn quickly responded. Good hit a fallaway three from the right side at the third-quarter buzzer.

 

Johnson scored on a drive to extend Northridge’s lead back to 14 with under six minutes to play. Once again, Coolman and Good answered for the Kingsmen. 

 

Penn had it back to an eight-point game when Coolman stole the ball from Scholl. A six-point deficit looked imminent, but Scholl had other plans. The play seemed consequential at the moment and even more significant in retrospect. 

 

Despite Coolman and Good combining for nine three-pointers, Penn could not get closer than eight points the rest of the game.

 

Johnson finished with 21 points, four rebounds, and two assists for the Raiders. Mason Bales played a steady role for Northridge throughout the game, recording 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Radeker tallied eight points, five assists, and four rebounds.

 

Coolman went for 27 points on five of ten from three-point range. He also added five rebounds and three assists. Good finished with 18 points. John Bedient posted four points, two rebounds, and two assists.