Photo by Travis David | Sullivan's Carson Granby reacts after hitting a three-pointer Friday night. Granby tied the Arrows' school record with eight 3-pointers in the loss to Northview.

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BY TRAVIS DAVID

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SULLIVAN — Friday night’s matchup between Sullivan and Northview as recorded as a Western Indiana Conference contest. But many in attendance may have thought it was a three-point competition.

The two teams combined to hoist up 39 shots — out of 75 — from behind the arc.

Northview made two less (7) from distance but managed to pull away for a 51-41 win — the first against the Arrows since 2016-17.

The loss for Sullivan, which snapped a 10-game winning streak against its rival, came despite a career night from Carson Granby. The Golden Arrow senior connected on eight shots from distance for a career-high 24 points.

“We will take that from Carson every night,” Sullivan Hall of Fame coach Jeff Moore said of his sharpshooter.

Although the veteran coach was pleased with the shooting performance of Granby, Moore was unhappy with his team’s shot selection as a whole.

Sullivan fired up 21 shots from 3-point land, connecting on nine for the game.

“Why?” 

Was Moore’s response to the number of 3-point attempts.

“We have three, really four  guys who are 6-foot-4, 6-5, and I can count on one hand the number of times we looked to get them the ball in the post,” the coach said. “And I think most of those entry passes were forced and we turned the ball over.”

Granby’s third triple of the night gave the Arrows an early 12-8 lead midway through the opening frame.

But the Knights finished the first on a 9-2 run for a 17-14 lead heading into the second. A triple by Christian Bryan started the second-quarter scoring as the Knights pushed the lead to 20-14. 

Northview led 30-22 at the break and carried a 40-32 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Sullivan crept to within five points late in the third period when Carter Mischler found Granby on the left wing for his seventh trey of the night. The shot pulled the hosts to within 37-32 with 33 seconds left in the period.

Then came the biggest shot of the night. 

Brayden Goff found Avery Perry all alone in the right corner in the closing seconds of the third. Perry made good on the attempt, pushing the lead back to eight points. 

Sullivan never came any closer the rest of the night.

“We left a guy open that we told them not to leave open,” Moore said of the defense on the play. “We were chasing on the play and never should have been chasing. We had just cut it to five and then we allowed that.”

Northview offset Granby’s career night by having four players score between 11-13 points. Karson Fosdick and Perry led the way with 13 points apiece while Bryan (12) and Goff (11) combined for 23 points.

“That’s just who they are,” Moore said of the Knights. “They are a good balanced team and we were not patient tonight. But we will learn from this and we will get better.”

Cooper Bock added eight points and six rebounds in the loss. No other Sullivan player tallied more than one bucket.

Bock also dished out five assists, while Paul Ridgway pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Sullivan (1-1, 0-1) traveled to Shakamak Saturday night.

Thanks to the Sullivan Westside Church and Roberts & Daugters Construction for the sponsorship of this story.