Portagers hit 13 triples, still fall short

by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate
January 27, 2012

ONEKAMA — What started out as one of their hottest shooting nights of the season ended in heartbreak for the Portagers.

Despite drilling 13 triples, and leading most of the way because of it, Onekama faltered at the end of a 61-60 defeat to Mason County Eastern on Friday night.

Leading 58-51 with two minutes remaining, the Portagers watched the Cardinals claw their way back and cap the West Michigan D League victory as Tyler Thurston’s floating hook in the lane fell for the go-ahead bucket with just five seconds left. It was only the second lead of the contest for MCE.

“Tonight came down to two things,” Onekama coach Jim Hunter said. “We had several unforced turnovers — several nice lead passes that we either got called traveling with, or hit our hands and out of bounds. And to compound it … we missed eight layups towards the end of the game. Some of them were contested, and some uncontested.

“The breakdown at the end was threefold. Unforced turnovers, missed layups, and I think we still get a little timid when the going gets tough late in games,” he added. “That’s not our offense or our defense. There’s no place to hide out there. We’ve got to play, and we’ve got to learn that we can play.”

Onekama (1-7, 1-7 WMD) did play — and played well — for the majority of the ballgame. The Portagers jumped out to a 22-9 lead and finished the first frame up 22-15 with the help of five 3-pointers. Derek Hobart, who sunk six shots from long range alone, led Onekama with 22 points to go with nine rebounds. Teammate Quinn Matthews added 15 points with six steals and three assists while Drew Slevin scored 12.

The Cardinals (7-4, 6-3 WMD) responded with a run of their own in the second quarter, but still trailed 32-29 at the break.

“We were behind the whole game and you’ve really got to give credit to Onekama and the way they came out playing hard tonight,” said MCE coach Steve Hull. “And, my gosh, their shooting — we said at halftime they’ve got to cool down, and they really didn’t.”

 The Portagers continued dialing in from long range to start the third, as their first three baskets came from beyond the arc as part of five 3s in the quarter. The Cardinals, however, snuck in a 10-0 run from 3:20 to 1:09 before Onekama took a 49-44 advantage into the fourth.

“You’re going to have those stretches where everything falls and that happened tonight for us for awhile,” Hunter said of the first three quarters. “But then it didn’t for awhile and that’s when your offense has to take over, and really, we struggled all night to run it.”

Onekama kept its slim advantage for most of the fourth, and capped a 7-2 run with Hobart’s sixth three of the night at the two-minute mark for a seven-point lead. But, the Cardinals were in the bonus and began to take advantage of both the Portagers’ turnovers on offense and aggressiveness on defense.

The Cardinals sunk 6-of-8 from the line in the final two minutes, and tied the game at 58 with 36 seconds to go.

Matthews hit a pair of go-ahead foul shots for the Portagers with 28 seconds to go for a 60-58 lead, but MCE made use of its final two possessions — scoring the backend of a double bonus to bring the game within a point at 21 seconds to go, and Thurston’s final field goal to give him 27 on the night to take the game’s final lead.

 
“That’s the way they all should be,” said Hull of the thrilling finish. “It was anybody’s game tonight — anybody’s. We were just fortunate to have that one extra point it took to win.”

The Cardinals inadvertently fouled Matthews on the ensuing Portagers’ possession which gave Onekama one final chance at the stripe with just a second and a half left. But the point guard, who gave his team the lead seconds earlier at the line, fell short on the front half of the one-and-one opportunity.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else at the line,” Hunter said of the junior. “And I told the guys in the locker room, it really wasn’t down to those free throws. It came down to a dozen other times where we didn’t make plays.

“To be really honest though, this was a good effort,” he added, citing that the last few losses for the one-win Portagers have been promising steps forward. “This team beat us badly earlier in the year. We are getting better, so we don’t want to lose sight of that in a tough loss.”

The Onekama junior varsity team topped MCE 51-43. Logan Fogarty led the Portagers with 14 points while Jordan Coe added 11.

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