Sabers hold on to top Portagers

Manistee Catholic Central’s Joe Gamache (22) defends Onekama’s Quinn Matthews during Wednesday’s game. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)

Dylan Savela, News Advocate

ONEKAMA — Snow mixed with whipping winds Wednesday evening made a seemingly simple trek from Manistee Catholic Central to Onekama a treacherous task.

A 57-46 West Michigan D League victory, however, was a trip worthwhile for the Sabers (7-3, 6-1 WMD).

“Tonight was a plus, especially in this conference,” said MCC coach Dale Edmondson Jr. “This will give us a little distance, for now, from Onekama, who I think is a fine time with some very good ballplayers.

“To come to their place and take one here can only help us,” he added. “There’s a lot of parady in our league right now — anybody can beat anybody — so winning on the road is huge.”

The county rivals battled back and forth in the first half, but the Sabers finally distanced themselves by double digits in the fourth.

The Sabers were nearly back to full health Wednesday, which has been hard to accomplish in an injury-riddled season thus far.

Zack Bialik led the charge with 25 points, including 11 in the third, and six boards, while Ben Feliczak had 13 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks, Alex Bialik scored 10, and Andrew Perry had seven points and a game-high 12 boards.

“I thought they rebounded very well, which hurt us,” said Onekama coach Jim Hunter of the Sabers’ 32-26 advantage on the glass. “A lot of times, they scored on second and third shots, which, going into the game we knew they’d try to do.

“We weren’t putting a body on anybody — we were just turning and going to the glass — but against teams that really attack the basket, you’ve got to box out.

“I think that hurt us more than anything else.”

Onekama (6-4, 5-3 WMD) was paced by Bryce Reckow with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals while Derek Hobart scored 10, Jon Eno had seven points and seven boards, and Quinn Matthews had six points, five boards, five steals, and four assists.

The teams went point for point in the first quarter, which ended in a 16-16 tie.

Bialik’s triple with 15 seconds left in the second looked like it would give the Sabers a five-point cushion heading into the break, but Reckow answered right back with a 3 at the buzzer to cut the gap to 28-26.

“We wanted to go in the paint all night long, but in the first half, we weren’t very diligent about doing that,” Edmondson said of MCC’s strategy. “We thought that was a spot we could go to get some opportunities, but it just didn’t happen in the first half.

“We didn’t get into the gym yesterday because of the weather, and you could kind of tell early on. It started out pretty sloppy on both sides.”

A pair of four-point runs from the Sabers in the third quarter were the only difference in an otherwise back-and-forth frame, as MCC took a 43-36 lead into the fourth.

“The second half, we went into the paint a bit more — got better looks — and shored up or defense,” Edmondson said. “Then in the fourth quarter, I thought we pretty much limited them to one shot every time down, which was huge.”

The Portagers fell victim to foul trouble down the stretch, as Matthews fouled out at the 2:30 mark and Curtis McKenney picked up his fifth with a minute left.

Onekama never got closer than five in the fourth, and the Sabers, who didn’t have a stellar night at the line, made 6-of-10 in the fourth to help seal the deal.

“We had chances,” Hunter said. “A few layups on steals we missed, a few wide open threes that wouldn’t fall, a few missed put-backs — if any of those fall, then who knows how it goes.”

The Onekama junior varsity team ran away from the Sabers 69-42 on Wednesday as the Portagers’ Jon Eno led all scorers with 19 and Randy Pienta had 10. The Sabers were paced by Justin Feliczak and Jordan Kuenzer, who each scored 15.

Visit the photo gallery for more photos
taken at the game by Dylan Savela.