Whidbee, Bell Lead The Charge For No. 2 Northeastern Late Surge Past Martin County 66-62 Clinching NCC Championship

Z’Kobe Whidbee had one statement on his mind Friday night and that was the championship was personal the win would have to come from a group who was determined to win the mental battle overcome foul calls finding a way to set up a jump full court press defense to shut down the tempo and speed of the Martin County Gators. 

Whidbee stuck to his word and he wouldn’t end without making it happen. 

Whidbee absolutely went off in the overtime period ending with 25 points, for young buck Tevaughn Bell displayed his young prodigy talent with 21 points and Northeastern took down the number one seeded Martin County to win the NCC Championship under the leadership of head coach Ronald Nixon. 

“The difference was effort, we talked about one possession at a time; have got to give credit to the seniors man they did a heck of a job tonight”, Nixon said. 

It was the second win of the season for Northeastern over the Gators - a matchup that we could see once again in playoffs - and last night's loss could have shaken up the playoff brackets, as Martin County in most brackets has been seeded as a 4 and Northeastern as a 3 seed. The Northeastern Eagles are hopefully en route to migrating on a deep run in the playoffs. 

“Job ain't done,” said Whidbee, when asked about the ceiling for this Eagles basketball program knowing the most recent longest run was the regional finals against Farmville Central. 

Tevaughn Bell put in 21 points for Northeastern (18-3), who is a crucial part of the future of the program seeing him and Kaiden Sutton step up in big moments as only sophomores in high school. 

The Gators exited as the regular season NCC champions with the mentorship of Antonio Davis in their inaugural season in the conference. 

The marathon was back and force, Martin County had led most of the game before Ronald Nixon drew up a press to start the 4th quarter making the momentum change with the defense intercepting passes and taking it to the rack, but Jakel Stallings put the game away hitting one free throw with 3 seconds left to give Northeastern the 4 point marginal victory.