Five minute collapse helps Mio steal victory from Posen
Bah, humbug. At Christmas time, what other words can describe an extremely tough 76-73 loss Tuesday to Mio in Posen (1-2, 1-1). Words were hard to come by for Viking head coach Ron Misiak after the Thunderbolts rallied from 17 down in the third quarter to stun the Vikes. ?Right now, I don?t know what to say about it,? said Misiak, after answering a couple of questions from the media. After junior center Aaron Hincka converted a basket at the midway point of the third quarter to give the Vikes a 50-33 lead, it looked like Posen was well on its way to another easy home victory over the Thunderbolts who they blew off the court in January.
MIO WENT on a 12-4 run to end the third quarter and trim the PHS lead to 10 heading into the final quarter, and then the Vikings had a five minute stretch at the end of the game they would like to have back. With the Vikings still clinging to a 61-50 lead, the Bolts went on an 11-2 run, scorching the net with three pointers from NBA-land, to cut the Posen advantage to two, 63-61.
Sophomore Steve Sidebottom drained one with two minutes left to tie the score at 67, and a few minutes later another to give Mio its first lead (71-70) since the early minutes of the first quarter. The Bolts wouldn?t give it back. Senior Russ Kamyszek hit a three from the left corner with eight seconds left to give the Vikes one more chance. They fouled Sidebottom and he converted both free throws. With 6.2 seconds to go, Posen needed a three pointer to tie the contest and send it to overtime, but the ball was tipped out of bounds with .2 seconds left.
?WE MISSED some easy shots especially in the fourth quarter,? said Misiak. ?We just couldn?t hit a shot. We couldn?t make one and they were. Their defense really came after us.? Mio coach Dennis Kann said they started the second half in a zone, trying to confuse Posen, and then switched back to a man-to-man defense. They also put pressure on the guards. ?I told the guards at halftime that if we pressure their guards more than what we did in the first half, and not let them throw easy passes, that would help. ?We?ve had a lot of problems over in Mio the last two weeks with sickness and the passing of (Pfc.) Jason Wright,? said Kann, wearing a pin with a picture of the former Mio athlete killed in Iraq last week.
?We?ve only had one practice since our last game against Whittemore. I didn?t know how we were going to respond tonight. I just challenged them to work hard and see what would happen, and that?s what we did.? WITH THE score tied at eight, Posen took control of the game and went on an 11-2 run. The scoring spurt was capped by a basket by Hincka, who had 15 points in the first half and finished with 27. It gave the Vikings a 19-10 lead. The Vikes ended the first half strong. Senior Ron Kroll increased the lead to eight with a three pointer at the 4:10 mark. Ju
Ponik did it again in the closing seconds, stealing the ball and going in for the score, to give Posen its biggest lead of the first half at 12. Hincka led the Vikings in points and rebounds (18), while Ponik had 12 points and 13 boards. Kroll finished with 20. Posen crushed Au Gres last Friday, 80-33, with four players in double figures. Ponik had a game high 19 points. he was followed by Kroll with 15, Hincka 14, and Kamyszek with 12. The Wolverines scored only four points in the fourth quarter.
THE POSEN JV (1-2, 1-1) defeated Au Gres last Friday and lost to Mio 63-59. Matt Szczerowski had a triple double against Au Gres with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 blocks, and followed that up with 18 points and 13 rebounds against Mio. Jason Romel had 13 against Mio, while Brandon Hentkowski had 12 against Au Gres.