League-leading Cards
cruise past Portagers
By DYLAN
SAVELA, Manistee News Advocate
Sports Writer
Published:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 12:14 AM EST
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ONEKAMA — Mason County Eastern took advantage
as Onekama stumbled off the starting blocks Monday night as the
Portagers played host to the West Michigan D League leaders.
The Cardinals ran off 27 points in the opening eight minutes which
equaled their margin of victory over Onekama, 70-43.
The Portagers responded to the 27-5 first-quarter deficit the best they
could, but the hole proved too deep.
“The first quarter killed us,” Onekama coach Roger Smith said. “When
they get a lead like that, it’s hard to get it back against a team that
good. “We just got off to a bad start tonight, and you just can’t
get that far behind.”
The first-quarter scoring frenzy didn’t kick into gear right away
either. MCE’s Josh Bonnett hit a game-opening 3-pointer 30 seconds in,
but both teams went scoreless for the following three minutes.
“They were pretty deliberate at the beginning,” Cardinals coach Dave
Purple said of the Portagers. “The first couple minutes went pretty
slow, but then we hit a couple of threes, scored some baskets and we
were able to start pressing ... then we really got it rolling.”
Four of MCE’s eight total 3-pointers were hit in the first quarter,
three of which came from Bonnett who finished with a game-high 22
points.
The Portagers (3-9, 3-8 WMD) weren’t able to find buckets for the
majority of the first half, and found themselves down 46-16 at halftime.
“I told my kids at the half that we’re not going to lay down and die,”
Smith said. “We’re going to play better in the second half and play
hard. And they did.”
Onekama nearly doubled its first-half output in the third, but still
found themselves down 62-30 to start the fourth — a deficit too big to
overcome, even though the Portagers outscored the Cardinals in the
second half, 27-24.
“We started rebounding better and we took care of the ball a lot
better,” Smith said of the second-half effort. “I thought my three big
guys did a really nice job on the boards in the second half, but we
didn’t do a good job in that first half and it was just hard to
recover.” |
Onekama’s Joe Kosiboski (32)
drives to the basket on MCE’s Eric Purple on Monday night. (Dylan
Savela/News Advocate)
After scoring just two points in the first
half, Onekama’s Joe Kosiboski rattled off 14 down the stretch for a
team-high 16 points while teammates Skyler Kimpel finished with 15,
Chase Calloway scored nine and Thomas Koon added three.
“I was not happy with the first half obviously, but we came out and said
we’re not going to quit, so I was pleased with that,” Smith said. “At
least we didn’t lay down and die. If we continue to play like we did the
second half, we’ll be all right.”
The Cardinals (12-1, 11-0 WMD) had no troubles keeping their comfortable
lead throughout to rake up another West Michigan D League win as they
remain atop the league standings.
Kyle Purple contributed 15 points with five assists and six steals on
the night while Eric Purple scored 14 with 11 rebounds and four steals.
“We were mixing it up pretty good tonight,” Dave Purple said. “We just
had to make sure we stayed focused with the different groups we had
going on the court. The intensity wasn’t quite there like it was in the
first half, but we weren’t pressing as much either.
“I thought everyone played really good,” he added. “Ever since (losing)
the game against Brethren, the kids have been playing really good
basketball and that’s what we’ve got to do heading towards the end of
the season. We don’t need any sort of lack of intensity.”
The Onekama junior varsity team beat the Cardinals 64-43.
The Portagers’ Tanner Kott snatched down 25 rebounds while Tyler Fogarty
scored 24 points. |