Sabers top Portagers to carry 10-game streak into postseason

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

 
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