|
Host Sabers set the
tone
MCC pushes
past Onekama in quarterfinal
By DYLAN
SAVELA, Manistee News Advocate
Sports Writer
Published:
Monday, March 8, 2010
|
|
MANISTEE
— Good hosts usually show a warm
hospitality towards guests. Except,
of course, when hosting a Class D
district tournament, as was the case
for Manistee Catholic Central Monday
when the Sabers refused to let
cross-county rival Onekama settle in
and get comfortable during the
tournament’s lone quarterfinal.
The home team set the tone for the
rest of the district with a 68-41
win over the Portagers.
“We’re pretty excited for this one,”
MCC junior Nick Kolanowski said
after finishing with a team-high 17
points, including five 3-pointers.
“We just wanted to come out, prove a
point, play ball and run.”
The
fast-paced Sabers quickly jumped out
to a 7-0 run they wouldn’t
relinquish, but Onekama didn’t go
away.
“We were able to get some good
shots, but Onekama hung right in
there,” said Sabers coach Dale
Edmondson Jr. “They didn’t roll
over. But, our team played hard on
the defensive end which is what
we’ve been talking about. We want to
play good defense and work hard
whether we’re playing in a man or
playing in a zone. I thought our
kids did that and built a nice
little lead at halftime.”
With full-court pressure and
transition buckets, MCC (18-3)
turned a 15-9 first-quarter lead
into a 35-19 advantage at halftime.
The Sabers’ Nathan Miller led the
way in the first half, scoring all
12 of his points before the break,
including nine in the opening eight
minutes.
“We hung with them for a while, but
I think we got too far behind early
— just too many turnovers,”
Portagers coach Roger Smith said of
his team which had 19 in all. “We
threw some bad passes that led to
some lay-ups for them. I thought we
would have stayed with them if you
took away those early turnovers that
they capitalized on. Good teams will
take advantage of bad decisions. We
just didn’t recover from it.”
The Portagers (4-15) played even in
the third as each team put in 13,
but the Sabers took final control in
the fourth, paced by Kolanowski’s
trio of 3-point shots.
“The third quarter, we didn’t come
out as strong as we would have
liked,” Edmondson said, “But, I
thought in the fourth quarter, Nick
K. got a little hot shooting the
3-pointers and that brought us all
some confidence.” In all, the Sabers
converted 9-of-17 from beyond the
arc.
“We’re not a team that shoots a lot
of 3-pointers, so being 9-for-17 is
pretty good for us,” Edmondson said.
“This is a good win for us against a
county team.”
Also contributing along the way for
the Sabers were Nick Doyle and Nick
Niesen with 13 points apiece, Zack
Bialik with six and Garrett Owens
with three. Doyle grabbed nine
rebounds and had three assists for
the Sabers while Vince Modjeski had
six boards, and Niesen had six
steals.
|
|
|
Manistee Catholic Central’s
Nick Doyle (25) goes up for a shot over Onekama’s Joe Kosiboski (32)
during Monday’s Class D district quarterfinal game at MCC. The
Sabers won, 68-41. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
The Portagers were led by senior Joe
Kosiboski with a game-high 18, while Skyler Kimpel had 13, Chase
Calloway had four, and Thomas Koon scored three.
“This isn’t fun,” Smith said of the loss. “But, I told my kids before
the game what they needed to do was compete. Compete as hard as you can
and play as hard as you can. And I think they did that.
“Nobody wants to get just four (wins), but it’s just been one of those
years that’s been extremely frustrating,” he added of the season. “But
none of these kids quit.”
As for the Sabers, they hope the momentum of Monday’s win will be
carried into Wednesday when they’ll play another county rival, Brethren,
in semifinal action.
“We’ve just got to keep it up,” Kolanowski said of the next task at
hand. “We’ve got to play every game here like it’s our last and play
with everything we have.”
|