By Kyle Goon

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Layton • It took a little bit of patience for the Northridge boys’ basketball team to win Tuesday night.

It took until the second half for the Knights (4-3) to get in their groove, running their half-court sets and taking advantage of a turnover-prone Hunter team. And once they got in stride, there was little the Wolverines could do as Northridge rode a 17-2 swing to come back and win 57-47 on its home court.

At a glance

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Highlights

Preston Christensen has a game-high 23 points as Northridge tops Hunter.

» Karson Casteel adds 14 points as the Knights go on a 17-2 second half run to take the lead.

» Dimitri Saliba finishes with 16 points for Hunter after being benched to start the game.

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"We had to stay strong," said junior guard Preston Christensen, who finished with a game-high 23 points. "We abandoned our game plan a little bit at the beginning. But all I can say is my teammates are warriors."

It was far from a work of art, but the Knights pieced together a solid stretch to run ahead starting in the third quarter. With Karson Casteel smothered in the post for much of the game, Christensen was able to rally Northridge with outside shooting and a few transition buckets. The junior scored 17 points in the second half alone.

The run was fueled in part by Hunter’s carelessness with the ball, as the Wolverines coughed up eight turnovers in the half. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Knights pulled away as three players hit 3-pointers to take a 46-33 lead.

For the final five minutes, Hunter ran a full-court press, but Northridge didn’t have much trouble dribbling through it. The Wolverines found their scoring again, and Noah Togiai helped lead the rally with 12 second-half points. But the Knights went a cool 11-for-14 from the charity stripe to keep Hunter at bay.

It was the fourth straight win for Northridge after opening the season 0-3.

"The difference has definitely been our defense, especially late in games," Christensen said. "We’re still giving up too much early."

Northridge did find itself in a deficit early as Hunter coach Dave Filimeohala pulled a surprise move by benching his typical starters and going with backups at the beginning. Cody Peterson kicked off the first quarter with seven points as the Wolverines took a 14-8 lead.

The message seemed to get to the starters, particularly Dimitri Saliba, who played the rest of the game and led the team with 16 points. But a low-scoring second half and defensive miscues that left Northridge shooters open doomed Hunter to fall to 4-3.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon