Portagers
advance to district semifinal against Lakers
By DYLAN SAVELA Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
BUCKLEY — From a naked-eye estimate, Buckley
High School’s gym was split straight down the middle for Monday night’s
Class D district quarterfinal. For every piece of blue- and gold-colored
clothing worn by the Onekama fans, there was an equal amount of red,
white and blue Manistee Catholic Central apparel filling the opposite
bleachers.The even divide was
fitting since the two teams split a pair of conference games earlier
this season — each winning a game on the other’s home court.
It was also fitting for each team’s
leading scorer to put up the type of numbers they are accustomed to,
while as seniors, battle for at least one more chance to lace up.
And, overtime seemed like the only fitting
place for something to give between the two evenly-matched squads.
It was the Portagers (13-9) who pulled out
the 56-49 victory in the extra four minutes to edge the Sabers.
“We’re just enjoying the moment,” Onekama
coach Roger Smith said. “That’s a good basketball team we played
tonight. Both teams just went out and played hard.”
Portager senior Levi Capper led Onekama
with a game-high 23 points, including nine off of three 3-pointers and
six from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
Capper also grabbed a team-high 10
rebounds.
Freshman Adrian Norman had a solid
all-around game for the Portagers with 14 points, six rebounds, six
steals, and five assists.
Also for Onekama, Skyler Kimpel scored 10
points and grabbed six boards, while Joe Kosiboski scored five points
and Hunter Slade added four.
As for MCC, coach Dale Edmondson Jr.
couldn’t fault his team’s effort.
“I think we played very hard tonight,” he
said. “We played hard enough to win. We just couldn’t put the ball in
the basket. It’s just disappointing.”
Jordan Janowiak led the Sabers with 17
points and also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Nick Doyle and Garrett Owens added nine
points apiece for MCC. Doyle had a game-high 12 rebounds and Owens led
the Sabers with four assists.
Also for the MCC, Nick Niesen scored seven
points, Nathan Miller added four, Nick Kolanowski had three points and
Modjeski pulled down seven rebounds.
The first half was a defensive battle, as
the each team managed only 16 points in the first half.
“We had some great opportunities in the
first half, we just didn’t capitalize on them,” Edmondson said. “But,
even though we only scored 16 points, we held Onekama to 16. That’s what
we stressed — playing good defense, and I think we did that.”
The Sabers managed to double their
halftime total by scoring 16 in the third quarter alone, while holding
the Portagers to 10.
But, with a slim 32-26 lead going into the
fourth, the Sabers were unable to hold on and seal the the deal |
Onekama freshman Adrian
Norman (24) drives against Manistee Catholic Central’s (from left to
right) Garrett Owens, Nick Doyle and Vince Modjeski during Monday
night’s district quarterfinal at Buckley. (Dylan Savela/News
Advocate)
The Portagers tied the game at 33 midway
through the fourth, but the Sabers regained a six point lead with three
minutes left, 39-33.
Being in the bonus helped Onekama down the
stretch, since Capper was able to go six for six at the line.
“We knew that freethrows were going to be
a big part of the game,” Capper said. “We lost a lot of games by missing
freethrows this year. So a lot of practice this week made them kind of
easy to make tonight.”
The Portagers tied the game at 41-41 and
then again at 43-43 with 40 seconds left.
During the last seconds of regulation both
teams had opportunities to break the tie, but neither could before the
buzzer.
“I was a little bit worried at the end
there,” Smith said. “We were down six points twice in the fourth quarter
and came back, so I give these kids credit for not quitting. We’ve
talked all year about playing a full ball game.”
The Portagers seemed to come out with the
momentum in overtime.
Onekama freshman Norman scored the
overtime’s first four points, and the Portagers never trailed from
there.
“I was just trying to help my team,”
Norman said. “I had to step up.”
Onekama will play Bear Lake, another West
Michigan D League rival, Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Buckley High
School.
Manistee Catholic Central ends its season
15-6 and the five seniors leaving are Janowiak, Jacob Szymanski, Ian
Bergel, Nathan Perry, and Chris Ludwig.
Janowiak ends his career as one of the top
Saber scorers of all time. He scored his 1,000th career point earlier
this season.
“Being a Saber is great,” Janowiak said.
“The fans are great and the school’s great. The coaches are amazing.
It’s got to end sometime and it’s too bad it ended here.”
Edmondson said his seniors will be missed.
“They are five great individuals and real
good young men. They’ve been great for our school.”
March 9, 2009 |