Unbeaten Panthers hand Portagers their first loss

Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate

ONEKAMA — The West Michigan D League is far from crowning a champion, but it’s never too early to take control of the wheel.

In a battle of the lone unbeatens, Baldwin postured past Onekama in the standings on Tuesday night with a 70-65 come-from-behind victory.

A 23-point fourth quarter erased what once was an 11-point cushion for Onekama, as the Panthers (4-0, 3-0 WMD) remained undefeated in handing the Portagers (4-1, 4-1 WMD) their first loss.

“It’s nice to be forerunning with some room in case you slip up,” said Baldwin coach Scott Pedigo. “And we knew if we could steal one on the road, that can definitely help you down the line. It’s early, but we’ve got that little cushion now.”

Each side had three players in double figures, as Baldwin’s Andon Ware led the way with 24 points, nine rebounds, and four steals. The Panthers’ Brandon Childress had 20 points with four steals while Damon Nichols scored 12.

The teams put on a shooting exhibition in the opening quarter, with the slight edge falling in favor of Onekama at 21-19.

The Portagers opened the second with seven straight points, which turned into a 37-29 lead by the break.

Quinn Matthews led the early charge with 16 first-half points for Onekama en route to a team-high 21 to go with seven boards. Derek Hobart scored 17 while Bryce Reckow had 16 points and seven rebounds.

“We tried to get the ball out of (Reckow) and (Hobart’s) hands, and make their other guys be the heroes,” Pedigo explained. “Then Matthews killed us for a bit there.

“They were shooting well, but the thing about jump shots is they don’t always keep falling,” he added. “We thought we could wear them down a bit.”

The Portagers still had their stroke out of the locker room and established an 11-point advantage thrice in the third. Baldwin, however, went on a 12-5 run in the quarter’s final three minutes to cut the gap to 51-47 heading into the fourth.

The Panthers opened the final frame on a 6-1 run to take their first lead since the opening quarter at 53-52. The advantage changed hands four times before Childress made a key steal with the lead and a minute remaining.

On the play, Childress missed a contested 2-on-1 breakaway layup, but the board was scooped up by Ware. Ware was blocked by Reckow on the putback, but the ball went back into the hands of Childress, who finished for a four-point lead, which proved to be enough.

“The stat that jumps out at me is the 20 turnovers,” said Onekama coach Jim Hunter, “and a lot of those were in the fourth.

“Their pressure hurt us, and we didn’t handle it very well,” he added of Baldwin’s half-court trap, established late. “We had the lead and then went cold, which hurt, but you can’t just live on your shooting.

“You’ve got to be able to play some defense as well, and we couldn’t get a stop when we needed it.”

Hunter said the sudden shooting slump affected the team down the stretch.

“Some of it’s just emotions. When you get frustrated there’s one of two ways you can go,” he explained. “You can take it, and focus it into making the next play, or you can let it get to you and affect how you play. You could see the wind left our sails a little too early tonight.”

He kept the team’s first setback in perspective, however.

“There’s so many teams in this league that can get the other on any given night,” Hunter said. “There’s a long road ahead, and one loss isn’t going to determine much, I don’t think.”

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