Hot-Starting Portagers top rival Lakers
by DylanSavela, Manistee News Advocate
December 18, 2012
BEAR LAKE — In the waning minutes of a rivalry revisited,
every point between Bear Lake and Onekama on Tuesday night seemed to be
more important than the last.
But as it turned out, the first 15 — all scored by the
Portagers — mattered most.
Onekama (3-0, 3-0 WMD) jumped ahead early, and despite
the Lakers’ quick recovery, never trailed in a 68-61 West Michigan D
League win.
“I’ve seen that come back to bite a lot of teams, where
all of sudden it’s 15-0 and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself,”
said Portagers coach Jim Hunter of the lead that turned to an 18-6
advantage after the first quarter. “But we knew they weren’t going to
stay shut out like that; they were taking good shots that just didn’t
fall, and what we were throwing up were going in.
“But I’m glad we had that to work with,” he added,
“because that makes them work that much harder to get back into it.”
Bear Lake (2-1, 0-1 WMD) outscored Onekama in both the
second and third quarters, and the teams played virtually even with each
other in the fourth.
Onekama kept the Lakers at bay, however, with the help of
two 20-point performances in the backcourt, in seniors Bryce Reckow and
Quinn Matthews, while teammate Derek Hobart scored 12 and Joe Eno added
eight.
Neither team did much damage in the first four minutes of
the game, but Onekama turned a 5-0 advantage into 15-point cushion
quickly within a span of two minutes. The Lakers finally got on the
board with 1:09 left in the frame, but still trailed by 12 heading into
the second.
“That’s a tough start,” said Lakers assistant coach
Michael Cox, who was filling in for Garret Waller Tuesday night.
“(Onekama) came out ready to play, and we just weren’t there at the
beginning. That’s just no way to start the game.”
Bear Lake began to salvage what it could from the
deficit, starting with a 20-point second quarter. |
The Lakers’ Josh Metiva led the charge, finishing with 14
points and 11 rebounds with three blocks while Reilly Merrill also had a
double-double with 11 points and 15 boards. Shane Peterson finished with
13 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
“There was no real big adjustments,” Cox said of his
team’s quick turnaround from the first quarter. “We just had to do what
we do. We got into the flow of the game finally, got back into it, but
just couldn’t get over the hump.”
The Lakers’ scored the first seven points of the frame to
cut the gap to five, but Onekama answered with five straight of its own.
Another seven-point run, including back-to-back Bear Lake
triples, cut the Lakers’ deficit to four with 38 seconds before
halftime, but Onekama again had an answer and scored five straight to
close out the quarter for a 35-26 lead.
The teams went back and forth for most of the third until
the Lakers went on a late 8-0 run that brought them within a possession
of the Portagers at 48-45. But on a broken play, Hobart hit a
backbreaking 3-point buzzer beater to give Onekama a 51-45 lead heading
into the fourth.
Fouls began catching up to both sides in a chippy fourth,
as three Lakers and two Portagers fouled out down the stretch.
Bear Lake got within four points with 1:44 remaining in
regulation, and again within three after Nick Streeter knocked down a 3
with 45 seconds to go.
The Portagers, however, converted enough free throws down
the stretch to hold on to its third victory in as many games.
“We did a little better job when it got down to crunch
time, but we probably didn’t have to put ourselves in that situation
either,” Hunter said. “We’ve still got to learn a little bit about
patience … but it’s a win, and like I said before, life’s pretty good
when you’re complaints come after wins.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten these guys, so,
it’s good for my kids. They’re pretty pumped about it.”
Onekama’s junior varsity team topped Bear Lake on
Tuesday, 50-42. Jon Acton led the Portagers with 11 points while Jon Eno
scored 10. Bear Lake’s Jordan Anderson scored a game-high 22 points.
DylanSavela,
Manistee
News Advocate on-line |