PINETOWN — Northside capped off a tough week with a decisive 74-41 victory over an undersized Bear Grass on Friday.

Coming off two double-digit losses to a pair of Eastern Plains Conference favorites, East Carteret and Pamlico County, the Panthers caught their breath against a winless Bear Grass team in its second year of a rebuilding phase.

“They’re playing a lot better then they did last year,” said head coach Mike Proctor. “I thought they were scrappy and never quit. That’s a sign of good coaching and better players.”

Despite the marginal improvement for the Bears, Northside’s 6-foot-8 paint presence, Edrice Adebayo, followed up a season-low scoring performance at Pamlico County with a 22-point, 11-rebound line Friday night in a limited role. With a 7-inch advantage on the Bears’ center, Adebayo effortlessly weaved his way through the opposing defense and threw down a series of monster dunks.

Aware of the collective mismatch, Proctor switched things up and went with a different starting lineup, as Noel Howson, Patrick Moore, Quashawn Slade and Adam Cahoon got the call.

“I felt like they’ve been working real hard and needed an opportunity to start. I wanted to give them a chance,” Proctor said.

It took just 15 seconds into the game for the Northside backups to make their first statement. Cahoon flicked the tipoff to Adebayo and the tallest player in the gym brought the ball up the floor. Adebayo let the offense settle and lobbed a ball up to Cahoon, who elevated and slammed it down for a demonstrative alley-oop. Opening aside, the Panthers hardly owned the first quarter.

Sophomore Derek Cox and the Bear Grass guards spread the floor, drew the Northside defense to the perimeter and challenged Adebayo down low. The Bears held the lead midway through the quarter after a handful of timely jumpers from Cox, but Adebayo proved too much for the Bears’ bigs.

But in the second quarter, Northside broke the score open. Noel Howson and Dalton Etheridge began to capitalize on open looks from the perimeter, combining for 12 points, while Adebayo and even 5-foot-4 Quashawn Slade also found the bottom of the net. The Panthers outscored the Bears, 23-9 in the second, and led by 20 at the half.

“We’ve had a tough week and we needed to make some of the shots, which we haven’t been doing,” Proctor said. “Our guards are a little nervous and when they miss shots, they get even more nervous. I don’t think we’re tired. We’re just not making jump shots, so I think that will come.”

Northside held Cox to just eight points through the final 16 minutes and cruised to its first Eastern Plains Conference win, ending the two-game slide.

Etheridge finished with 10 points, while Reggie Slade notched 11 points. For Bear Grass, Cox scored a team-high 18 points.

With the win, Northside improves to 8-2 (1-2 EPC) and will face Jones Senior in Trenton on Friday.