Onekama Holds off Bear Lake
in Slugfest

By MATT WENZEL, Manistee News Advocate Sports Editor

ONEKAMA — Bear Lake’s Cody Reed drained a 3-pointer.

Onekama’s Hunter Slade answered with a triple of his own 10 seconds later.

Laker sophomore Weston Brooks blocked a shot.

Portager senior Ryan Miller answered with a swat of his own.

Adrian Norman slashed into the lane to give Onekama a lead, Chad Mallory drove to the basket to tie the game up on the next possession.

Together, the teams combined for 16 ties and 27 lead changes. In reality, the rivalry between the two county foes was more of a boxing match than a basketball game.

However, it was Onekama that answered the bell in the fourth quarter to deliver a knockout punch against Bear Lake in a 70-66 win on Thursday night.

“It was classic Bear Lake-Onekama,” said Bear Lake coach Bryan Groenwald. “Sometimes you win them, sometimes you lose them.”

All five Onekama (8-1, 8-2) starters scored in double figures, led by Miller, who had 17 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.

“I enjoy it,” Miller said of sweeping the season series from Bear Lake, while acknowledging he doesn’t really enjoy the close games. “It would be nice to beat them by a little more.”

Also for Onekama, Slade had 14 points, Norman had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, Levi Capper had 11 points and eight rebounds, Skyler Kimpel had 11 points and Joe Kosiboski came off the bench and chipped in six points.

“I don’t know if my stomach can take many more of these,” Onekama coach Roger Smith said of the close win that put his team alone in first place in the West Michigan D League  after Baldwin lost to Pentwater on Thursday night, 72-68.

Mallory hit three 3-pointers en route to a game-high 21 points, to go with seven assists and three steals, to lead Bear Lake before fouling out with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter.

Bear Lake (2-8, 3-9) sophomore Weston Brooks struggled from the floor and finished with just four points, but made up for it on the defensive end with 10 blocks and five rebounds. Also for the Lakers, Reed had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Patrick Spalding had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Jaron Llewellyn had 13 points.

“I’m real proud of the way my guys played,” Groenwald said. “I wish I could say a couple, three shots would have went, but (Smith) could, too. It was the same, both ways.”

Neither team led by more than five points at any time in the back-and-forth slugfest.

Onekama took an early 4-0 lead, before Bear Lake answered back and with eight points from Mallory, and held a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, which had 11 lead changes.

Slade stepped up with 12 points in the second quarter, while Spalding chipped in 10 as the Lakers went into halftime with a 38-35 lead.

Both teams got an extended break at the half, when a ceremony was held to honor former and current state champion and All-State cross country runners from the two schools’ co-op cross country teams.

Neither team led by more than two points in the third quarter, which fittingly ended with a tie at 47.

After Onekama scored the first four points of the fourth, Bear Lake went on an 8-0 run to open a 55-51 lead with 4:49 left to play. The Portagers gave Bear Lake fewer second chances on the offensive end as the game wore on.

“We rebounded better,” Smith said. “We worked on it really hard the last two nights, and it showed tonight. We banged the boards real good. I was more pleased with that than anything.”

The Portagers rallied to reclaim a three-point lead, but Llewellyn drained a 3-pointer to tie the game up with 2:10 left. From there, the game was decided at the free throw line, where the Portagers may not have shined, but made just enough.

Onekama made just five of 13 attempts in the fourth quarter as part of a 11-25 performance from the charity stripe. However, Capper drilled a pair with 1.5 seconds left to put his team up four and ice the game.

“I guess we made them when we had to,” Smith said. “Bear Lake is always going to play hard and we were very fortunate.”