Portagers drop opener

Manistee News Advocate Staff
December 13, 2011

CUSTER — The Onekama boys basketball team dropped its season opener on the road with a 66-44 West Michigan D League loss to Mason County Eastern on Tuesday.

Kyle Acker led the Portagers (0-1, 0-1 WMD) with eight points and seven rebounds while Joe Eno scored eight.

MCE jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter and held a 35-19 advantage at halftime while Onekama committed 21 of its 31 turnovers in the first 16 minutes.

“I told the kids we were lucky to be in the game,” said Onekama coach Jim Hunter. “When things got rough, we didn’t really pull it together until it was too late. We dug too deep of a hole.”

Hunter acknowledged that there were first-game mistakes.

“There’s no question,” he said. “You could see the difference just in the second half.”

Thursday’s game between Onekama and Brethren has been moved to Onekama. The game was previously scheduled to take place at Brethren. That means the Feb. 1 game between the Portagers and Bobcats will be held at Brethren