Warriors Shine on Senior Night

The Nelson Warriors' Men's Basketball team celebrated Senior Night in style at Scott Activity Center, honoring two lauded leaders, Orlando Gonzales and Terrin Ross, honoring the team's two seniors who have embodied leadership, toughness, and Warrior spirit throughout their careers with a pregame ceremony before delivering a hard-fought 96-83 victory over the visiting Nobel Knights.

After the emotional celebration, the game tipped off, and the Warriors, potentially expectedly, came out slow on offense, trailing 6-0 just 2:30 in. Terrin Ross finally ignited the Nelson offense with a bucket, snapping the 2:39 cold streak, sparking a patented Warrior 12-5 run that flipped the lead and gave the Nelson men control they would never relinquish.

Ross, entering the night just 50 points shy of 1,000 for his career, went on a personal 6-0 scoring tear as part of a larger 18-2 surge that blew the game open to 30-15 midway through the first half. The highlight of the run, and one of the loudest moments the Activity Center has seen all season, came when Logan Demarie threw down a perfect alley-oop to Zoe Holman for a thunderous two-handed fast-break slam that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

After a Nobel timeout, the pace slowed for Nelson as the Knights began pressing full-court and crashing the boards aggressively. Despite the shift, the Warriors did not buckle, and held a solid 48-34 lead at halftime.

The second half opened with the understaffed Knights (who dressed only seven players, three forced to play at least 38 minutes, one never subbing out) catching fire and mounting a furious comeback. Nobel ripped off a 19-3 run to cut what had once been a comfortable lead down to just two points at 53-51 six minutes into the period.

What had looked like a potential rout, turned into a battle of attrition.

But the Warriors refused to let Senior Night slip away. Tapping into their inner Warrior spirit, they withstood the storm, regrouped, and quickly rebuilt the lead back to double digits, 73-63. From there, Nelson expanded the margin to a game-high 15 points before the final buzzer sounded, securing the 96-83 victory and sending the home faithful home happy.

Ross finished with a strong all-around night, finishing with 16 points on 8-11 shooting, along with 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, inching closer to the 1,000-point milestone. Fellow Senior, Orlando Gonzales, finished with a game-high 26 points on 7-13 from the field, including 4-7 from beyond the arc. Playing all 40 minutes for coach Kole Ebert, he nearly recorded his first-career triple-double, finishing with 6 rebounds and 7 assists, to go along with a steal and block.

Zoe Holman zipped through the Knights' defense for 22 points, with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Jermaine Earnest may have also recorded a triple-double if the game had been a bit longer, dropping 10 points, including 6-6 from the charity stripe, along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals – his fourth game this season with at least 5. Wyatt Mackay too finished with 10 points, along with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.

The Knights were led by Caleb Palmer's 25 points a 5 rebounds as well as Ryan Frazer, who played all 40 minutes, recording 23 points and 10 rebounds, along with 3 steals. Jovan Young too recorded a double-double, with 12 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals.

With the regular season no over, the Warriors look to the Regional Championship Game on Saturday, March 7, at 7pm at the Scott Activity Center against the Justice Lions, and a chance for both the Conference title, as well as a spot in the NCCAA National Championship Tournament in Missouri for the third consecutive season.