Rogers City tops Posen in exciting basketball contest
Fans of Huron and Viking basketball were treated to a close game in Rogers City Tuesday. After trailing 24-22 at halftime, a charged up Huron squad came out and scored the first seven points of the second half, taking the lead for good and earning a 62-55 win. Aaron Florip nailed a three-pointer from the wing, Tim Cercone had a layup off a fast-break, then Kyle Greene hit an inside shot as coach Karl Grambau?s squad took care of the ball in gaining the lead.
POSEN WOULD work the ball inside and use a press to come back on the Hurons as sophomore Aaron Hincka connected on an inside jumper. Greene?s dunk, and Cercone?s three-pointer brought the Huron lead to 34-26. Then Posen went on a 6-0 run as Russ Kamyzek and Matt Ponik hit jumpers before Ron Kroll?s two free throws fell in.
With Viking coach Ron Misiak?s charges pressing, the Vikings moved to within two points at 36-34. Florip?s second triple of the quarter came in front of Viking hoops from Ponik and Kamyszek and the Huron lead dwindled to 41-40 with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. But Florip would answer with another three and Rogers City led 44-41 after three quarters.
POSEN HAD NO quit in them, as Ponik?s three-pointer and Kroll?s short jumper again cut the Huron lead to two at 49-47with 5:50 left in the game. Kamyszek, who scored all of his nine points in the second half, hit a three-pointer at the 2:45 mark making the score 55-52. Patiently working the ball inside, Huron forward Adam LaLonde hit a shot off a rebound, then Greene scored on an inbound play and the Hurons? lead was safe. Grambau was pleased that the team worked well together.
?I thought we cut our turnovers in half fromwhat we had been doing and that is what we have to do,? Grambau said. The Hurons looked to start anew after a 4-5 roller-coaster first half of the season.
?We decided as a team that this would be our first game, kind of taking the approach Michigan took. We wanted to start over on Monday, we changed practice a little bit and tried to get a fresh start. We?ve struggled a bit this year so we started everyone on a clean slate. We?re not going to talk about games past,? Grambau said.
?The kids played really, really hard,? said Misiak. ?I?m impressed with our guys. We?re young and each game we seem to get a little better. We made some mistakes down the stretch but we are looking OK.? Posen had a difficult time defending in the low post. ?We?re not really small, but we are not as big as they are in the middle,? Misiak said.
THE HURONS grabbed the early lead, but Posen came back to tie the score at 5-5 with Ponik?s three-pointer. Charley Smolinski, called up from the JV, fed LaLonde for an easy two, before Kroll and Luke Hentkowski each had three-pointers to close the first quarter, giving Posen a 13-11 lead. The score was tied five times in the second quarter. Hincka?s driving shot giving the Vikings a 24-22 lead at halftime. Greene led all scorers with 24, six in each quarter of play, while Florip had 17 and LaLonde scored 12, eight in the fourth quarter. Kroll led the Vikings with 14 points, Ponik scored 12, and Hinka added 11.
IN THE JV contest Rogers City defeated Posen 64-49. Posen led 12-10 after the first quarter but the Hurons took the lead for good in the second quarter, leading 31-24 at halftime and 47-40 at the end of three. Clay Hilla had 26 pointswhile Chris Paschke added 13 for the Hurons. James Sobek scored 19 for Posen, Josh Rose had 12 and Matt Szczerowski added 10. LAST FRIDAY, the Posen varsity topped AuGres 65-53, taking charge early with a 21-12 first quarter lead. The Vikings led 34-25 at halftime and 51-37 at the end of the
THE HURONS hosted the Rudyard Bulldogs Friday, ending up on the short end of a 69-40 count. Rudyard jumped out to an early 12-4 lead and led 16-10 after the first quarter. Rudyard scored the first eight points of the second quarter to increase the lead to 37-24 at halftime, and led 53-31 at the end of the third quarter. Greene and LaLonde scored 12 points each while Isaac Momrik added 10.
The Huron JV led 43-40 heading into the fourth quarter but lost 59-40. Clay Hilla scored 17 while Justin Wibert added 15. Rogers City travels to Rudyard Friday then hosts St. Ignace Tuesday. The Vikings play in Hillman Friday then host DeTour Tuesday.
