No. 10 Cougars too
much for Onekama
By MARTIN SLAGTER
Pioneer News Network
Published: Saturday, January 29, 2011
BIG RAPIDS — It’s often said that the
measure of a good team is when it can play poorly and win.
While Crossroads Charter Academy didn’t play poorly, coaches and
players on the Cougars knew they didn’t play with the crispness and
intensity they normally have in a 73-53 win over Onekama on Friday.
The Class D No. 10 Cougars (12-0, 9-0) remain perfect on the year
because they were able to put together scoring spurts and create
turnovers by pressing the Portagers with 17 steals.
“We wanted to come out and make them make mistakes,” Crossroads
coach Jason Kostecki said. “I thought in the first half they had
more intensity than we did. In the third quarter we went on a nice
run and had some steals." Both teams looked to run early and often,
pushing the ball up the floor looking for transition baskets. After
a 3-pointer by Onekama's Matt Monroe cut the Crossroads lead to
11-10, Marcus Routley connected on a triple of his own to make it
14-10.While Crossroads
continued to push the ball up the court with Isaiah Simmons scoring
on several lay-ups, Onekama showed good effort defensively and kept
the game competitive. Onekama’s Adrian Norman and Skyler Kimpel
contributed most of the Portagers’ offense in the first half,
scoring 20 of the team’s 27 points.
Onekama coach Jim Hunter said while he was proud of his team’s
effort defensively, Crossroads’ full-court press was too much for
his team.
“We don’t handle the ball as well as we need to,” he said. “I think
it’s more a credit to Jalen (Carter) and Isaiah (Simmons) up front
in creating those turnovers. We don’t run into that quickness very
often.”
After Onekama cut the lead to 36-27 with just a few seconds before
halftime, Crossroads answered with a Carter 3-pointer to make it
39-27 at the break.
Crossroads picked up the defensive
intensity in the third quarter and was able to increase its lead to
46-28 after a Carter dunk on a fast break ignited the crowd. Carter
finished with 18 points for the Cougars.
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Onekama’s Adrian Norman
(left) dribbles past Crossroads’ Isaiah Simmons during Friday’s
game. (Martin Slagter/Pioneer News Network)
Kostecki said he thought his team picked
up its effort on both ends in the second half. “I thought we moved the
ball really well,” he said. “We had some nice drives to the basket
against their zone. It was really the first zone we’ve seen all year. I
thought we handled it pretty well for it being the first time we’ve seen
it.”
Simmons — who led the Cougars with 19 points — said he thinks his team
needs to pick up its intensity on the defensive end after going through
a sluggish week of practice. He is confident, however, because of the
balance the Cougars bring every time they’re on the court. “If I
don’t have something on the drive I can kick it out to Marcus (Routley),
Ethan (Mabry) or Jalen (Carter),” he said. “I’ve got confidence that
they’re going to knock down that 3-pointer.”
Hunter said he thought his team continued to battle against the talented
Cougars in the second half and did a better job rebounding than it did
in Onekama’s first encounter with Crossroads.
“I’m very proud of how hard our kids played,” he said. “When you have
turnovers like we had, a lot of times you see kids get down on the
defensive end. I think we came back and played hard defensively.”
The Portagers were led by Norman with 17 points and six assists, Kimpel
had 13 and nine rebounds while Monroe grabbed a team-high 14 boards.
| The fast paced Portager JV
won their 10th game 70-34. Leading the scoring for Onekama
were Bryce Reckow with 23 pts and Quinn Matthews with 14
pts. |
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