Hurons win over Pickford; play at St. Ignace Jan. 10
Rogers City coach Karl Grambau hopes the momentum of a win Tuesday will carry over into Friday?s game at St. Ignace. The Hurons used inside scoring to power by the Pickford Panthers, 60-52. ?We had a great game against St. Ignace (a 52-47 loss in the Boyne City tournament over the holidays) and we will really have to play a good game in St. Ignace on Friday. It is always tough to play them in St. Ignace,? Grambau said. Tuesday in Rogers City, juniors Kyle Greene and Adam LaLonde scored 21 and 20 points respectively as starting Huron guards Aaron Florip and Isaac Momrik patiently worked the ball inside.
LALONDE MADE most of his hay inside and at the free throw line, while Greene used a variety of moves to the basket as the pair combined for all of the Hurons? 12 first quarter points. A late Panther basket tied the score at 12-12 to end the first quarter.
?Adam and Kyle work together well inside. The key is to get the ball to them. If the ball gets inside to them good things will happen,? Grambau said.
Tim Cercone?s three-pointer and two inside shots by LaLonde gave the Hurons a 19-12 lead that they never relinquished. Greene nailed a banker from the right side, then hit an inside jumper, before Florip set up LaLonde for layup with a good pass. The Hurons led 25-12 with 3:05 left in the second quarter.
Pickford made its first basket of the quarter with 1:05 left, going on a 7-0 run to bring the score to 30-22 as the half ended. ?I thought we played good defense in the second quarter,? Grambau said. ?I thought we changed defenses very well. We put in a couple of new things and tried them.?
TWO INSIDE shots from Greene, off passes from Florip and Momrik, brought the Huron lead to 34-22 with 6:41 left in the third quarter. Then Pickford broke out a full-court press, using it to pull within six points at 37-31 with 4:31 left in the game. After the Hurons got away from their inside game, as four consecutiv
Then Cercone hit a three-pointer, sandwiched around buckets by Greene, to make the Huron lead 45-35 as the third quarter ended. Florip?s triple made it 50-37 to give the Hurons their largest lead of the night. Pickford was able to bring the score to 56-49 but could get no closer. After Friday?s games at St. Ignace, the Hurons travel to Hillman Tuesday.
IN JUNIOR varsity action Tuesday, the Hurons fell to the Panthers by a score of 58-40. Pickford led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter and 28-18 at halftime.
Justin Senff scored 12 points and Chris Paschke added 8 to pace the Hurons.
