Manistee Catholic Central’s Jesse Miller (23) shoots
over Onekama’s Joe Eno during the second half of Thursday’s West
Michigan D League game. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
MANISTEE — With the West Michigan D League locked up and
the win-or-go-home district tournament starting next week, Manistee
Catholic Central had just one thing to play for Thursday night.
“You knew before this game it was going to be for pride
on our home floor,” said Sabers coach Dale Edmondson Jr. “Win or lose,
we’re still playing Monday (in a district quarterfinal), but we talked
about that pride and I think the kids showed it.”
MCC (16-3, 15-1 WMD) fended off county and league rival
Onekama, 55-44, to cap the regular season on a 10-game winning streak.
Zack Bialik led all scorers with 34 points, which
included a 21-of-24 performance from the free throw line. Andrew Perry
scored nine with eight boards and Ben Feliczak added seven points.
“It’s good to win against a rival, and it’s good to win
before your district,” Edmondson said. “The county games are always huge
games. It’s because of bragging rights, I’m sure.
“It can sometimes get a little bit heated, but for the
most part it’s just that friendly rivalry showing,” he added. “County
games are always great to play, and ones you can never look past. You’d
be crazy if you do.”
The back-and-forth battle was as advertised, certainly
through the first three quarters in which neither team had leads of more
than four points.
The Portagers (12-8, 10-6 WMD), who were paced by Bryce
Reckow’s 22 points with five blocks, four boards and three steals, took
a 12-9 advantage into the second quarter before MCC had a 26-24 edge by
the break.
Joe Eno finished with seven points for Onekama while
Quinn Matthews scored six with five steals.
The Portagers had a slim advantage for the majority of
the third before the Sabers scored the frame’s final bucket for what
proved to be the game’s final lead, at 35-34. |
Onekama’s Jarett Sovereign elevates for a shot during
the first half. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
The contrast at the free throw line between the two teams
eventually made the game’s biggest difference. Onekama finished the
contest cashing in on 4-of-8 attempts, while the Sabers shot just shy of
80 percent by going 29-of-37.
“They did a much better job at drawing fouls than we
did,” said Onekama coach Jim Hunter. “It was the difference of the game.
I thought we outplayed them in a lot of areas.”
Onekama out-rebounded the Sabers, who typically make a
name for themselves on the glass, 27-21, but Bialik gave the Portagers
fits when he had the ball.
“I give them credit, because we changed some things
defensively to take away the 3-pointer from (Bialik,” Hunter explained,
“and he only made one, so we did a good job there. We just didn’t
expect him to go 21-of-24 from the free throw line,” he added. “A lot of
those were a good job on his part of drawing them, and maybe a lack of
discipline on our part.”
The Sabers began to build on the night’s biggest cushion
in the fourth, as the lead ballooned to double-digits from the line in
the game’s waning seconds.
“I turned to one of my players on the bench with about
four minutes left and said, ‘man, this is right where we want to be,’”
Edmondson said of securing the victory. “We were in the bonus and they
were in foul trouble, so we couldn’t settle for jumpers. We needed to
keep exploiting it, keep attacking the basket.”
After the final buzzer, plenty of pictures were being
snapped of the five Saber seniors who started the contest in Bialik,
Perry, Jesse Miller, Joe Gamache, and Nick Fortier, along with injured
senior Jack Howard, as they posed at center court.
“Those six seniors are great kids; nice young men,”
Edmondson said. “They knew this was a special game — their last at home
— not only now, but down the road.You can tell it’s a close group too.
There’s no division there.”
The Onekama junior varsity team topped MCC 46-26 on
Thursday as Randy Pienta’s game-high 16 and Jon Eno’s 14 paced the
Portagers. The Sabers were led by Justin Feliczak with 12
Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate on-line . February
28, 2013 |