Brethren upsets Onekama, 44-43
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
BRETHREN — Sometimes a player’s only basket
can be the game’s biggest.Brethren
junior Nick Topous proved this to be true Friday night, when his running
jumper with 11 seconds left gave the Bobcats a 44-43 victory over
Onekama.
The Portagers were up one with 19 seconds
left on the clock and had possession of the ball under the Bobcat’s
basket.
Brethren’s full-court press forced
Onekama’s inbound play to break down, and a fumbled pass wound up in the
hands of Topous.
“I don’t know, I just saw the loose ball and
scooped it up,” said an elated Topous. “Coach always says to attack the
basket, so I ran in, thought I was going to get packed, did a little
move, and put it in.”It was the
first lead for Brethren since halftime, and it couldn’t have come at a
better time.
Onekama was unable to attempt another
shot.
With two seconds left, the ball was tied
up and possession stayed with the Portagers, but with fouls to give, the
Bobcats used one as the buzzer sounded.
“We’re pretty pumped right now,” Topous
said. “They beat us pretty good earlier this season, so its good to beat
them now.”
Topous’ two points came at a critical
time, but leading the Bobcats down the stretch was Myles Burns with 13
points. Also scoring for Brethren was Josh Sexton and Wade Milnickel
with nine apiece, Roddy MacNeil had seven, and Alex Mackey and Jason
Marsh each added two. Sexton led the Bobcats with 16 rebounds, and Burns
had three steals and four assists. |
Brethren’s Roddy MacNeil (4)
goes up for a shot in front of Onekama’s Ryan Miller during the
first half on Friday night. MacNeil finished with seven points for
the Bobcats. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
“We thought that if it was a low scoring
game we’d be in good shape,” Brethren coach Alex Sexton said. “We played
good defense, worked the ball down low and played the tempo we wanted to
play.”
Scoring for Onekama was Levi Capper with
18 points, Adrian Norman had eight, Hunter Slade and Joe Kosiboski
chipped in six apiece, Ryan Miller had three, and Skyler Kimpel added
two.
“We’re always having these,” Portagers’
coach Roger Smith said of the heartbreaking loss. “Hopefully we’ll
bounce back but I’m going to leave that up to the kids.”
Seven points was the biggest separation
between the two teams, as Onekama briefly held a 31-24 lead midway
through the third quarter.
The game saw two ties and six lead changes
before the Bobcats were eventually able to hang on to the sixth. |