Onekama nearly pulls upset
By DYLAN
SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published February 25, 2011
ONEKAMA — Onekama’s Adrian Norman
lay right outside the corner of the court where the junior guard had
come up just short on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that would have forced
overtime with Mason County Eastern Friday.
Hands behind his head, under a scoreboard lit with the final score,
59-56, Norman’s chest heaved heavily from his 25-point effort through
all 32 minutes.
The joyous Cardinals were also breathing hard — exerting a collective
and steady sigh of relief.
Onekama’s Adrian Norman goes
up for a lay-up during the second half of Friday’s loss to Mason
County Eastern. Norman led the Portagers with 25 points. (Dylan
Savela/News Advocate)
“No one here probably thought it
would be like that tonight,” said Norman, whose Portagers lost to MCE,
58-40, on Jan. 14. The teams' polar season record would suggest the
same. But Onekama (4-12, 4-10 WMD) gave the Cardinals (14-4, 13-2 WMD)
all they could handle the second time around, as the Portagers' pair of
potential game-tying triples rimmed out in the final 10 seconds of the
contest.“What an
improvement,” MCE coach Steve Hull said of Onekama. “They’ve really come
back and play good defense and just play ball.”
While Norman’s 25 did most of the damage for the Portagers, MCE’s Lucas
Landis stole the show, scoring a game-high 40 with 20 boards. |
“Landis is a load,” Onekama
coach Jim Hunter said. “He does enough on his own — he’s got a nice,
soft jump shot from about 15 feet, but it was the second shots that
he gets on put-backs that can just kill you. You play good defense,
challenge guys, create a bad shot and then he’s right there,
sticking it right back in.”
The Portagers led most of the first quarter until Landis scored the
frame’s final seven points to give his team the 13-12 edge.
The Cardinals crept away through the second and with 59 seconds to
go before the break, Landis put an emphasis on the game’s lone
double-digit advantage with a dunk in traffic to give MCE a 30-20
lead. The Portagers cut that down to 32-25 before heading into
halftime.
“The kids got out and ran better tonight,” Hunter said, citing that
handling the Cardinals’ full-court pressure was key in keeping it
close. “We didn’t always score when we broke the press, but we did a
good enough job getting out of it, that they just called it off. I
think that was the big difference.”
The third quarter was, for the most part, a two-man show. Landis put
in eight points in the frame while Adrian answered back and then
some, scoring 11 before the fourth and keeping his team within
striking distance as Onekama trailed 45-41.
“I thought Adrian did a heck of a job with keeping us right in the
game when they separated from us,” Hunter said. “I give the kid
credit. He basically put us on his shoulders a couple times
tonight.”
The Cardinals stayed ahead through the duration, but Onekama
threatened several times. “When we go after it, we do pretty well,”
said Hull. “But when we’re complacent, and try to hold on to leads,
we don’t. We were trying not to lose tonight.”
The Cardinals scored with 33 seconds to go for their second 3-point
lead in the final two minutes. And with another shot from long
distance needed, Onekama’s Alex Welch came up short in the corner
with under 10 seconds remaining, and after an offensive board,
Norman couldn’t connect at the buzzer from the opposite corner.
Onekama’s Matt Monroe finished the night with eight points and 10
boards, while Ryan Pienta scored six, Kyle Acker scored five with 10
rebounds, Rease Heiler scored five, Nick Osborn four and Welch
three.
Even with the loss, the Portagers feel they are improving as the
season winds towards districts.
“I’m gaining more confidence,” Hunter said. “When you’ve got a
record like we’ve got and you’re struggling and you’ve been blown
out the first half of the season, a lot of teams would have checked
it in. They would have checked it in three, four weeks ago, and
these kids haven’t. And that’s showing ... That’s something you can
be proud of. I’m proud of the kids tonight and I hope they are too
of their effort.”
The Onekama junior varsity team extended its undefeated streak to 16
games Friday in a 73-49 win over the Cardinals. The Portagers were
led by Bryce Reckow with 23 points while Quinn Matthews was right
behind with 22.
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