Hurons run by Onaway, 75-47
The Hurons used size and speed to their advantage in taking a 75-47 win over the visiting Onaway Cardinals Tuesday night. While the weather outside blustered cold air, snow and drifts, the Hurons set the tone with two hot dunks by center Kyle Greene. The 6?5? senior won the opening tip, and converted a short jumper in the game?s opening seconds. Less than a minute later, he stole the ball at midcourt, and steamed all the way down the lane for a jam to make it 4-0.
That set the tone for the contest, as the Hurons ran the floor well, and moved the ball inside to Greene, who led all scorers with 21 points, and forward Adam LaLonde, who followed with 18, including 11 in the third period. ?I thought we started out really well, we played good defense and started some nice fast breaks. The thing we talked about is working on our consistency,? said coach Karl Grambau. Tim Cercone?s layup, off a Greene pass, and Greene?s basket and free throw made it 15-4 with just under three minutes left in the first frame.
THE CARDS PRESSED when they could, but the results often were quick Huron shots on the other end as the Hurons led 19-7 after one quarter. A Cercone triple and a 10-footer from Greene stretched the Huron lead to 15 at 24-9. Rogers City played a tight man-to-man, using their size advantage at each position to the maximum effectiveness. The lead became 34-16 at the half. LaLonde scored the first six points of the third quarter for the Hurons, mostly by being in great position under the basket to receive passes from his teammates. Greene, who usually drew a crowd at the top of the key when he had the ball, drew three players to himself, leaving LaLonde all alone for the basket which made the score 40-20. The quarter ended with Rogers City leading 55-30.
Each team substituted freely in the fourth quarter. Onaway, which has just eight on the varsity, continued to press the Hurons and hustled on both ends of the floor. The Hurons extended the lead to 65-40 on two Chris Paschke free throws, and built their largest lead at 69-40 after John Jaeger hit a runner with 1:48 left in the game. Rogers City is now 3-2 on the season.
THE JUNIOR VARSITY saddled the Cards with a 60-26 loss in the evening?s first game. Rogers City led all the way, working out to an 18-9 lead after the first quarter and 35-15 at halftime. Everyone scored for coach Jason Wenzel, led by Justin Senff with 14 and Justin Wilbert with 11. Nick Kowalski added nine on three three-pointers. Last week, the Huron varsity and junior varsity each made the championship game of the Cheboygan Christmas Basketball Tournament. The JVs came away with a win over the hosts, while the varsity fell to Cheboygan in the finals. The varsity Hurons never quite got on track as Cheboygan took a 70-57 win in Tuesday?s final. Great outside shooting by the Chiefs had much to do with the Huron loss.
RC led only twice in the contest, after Isaac Momrik set up a bucket by LaLonde after the Hurons won the opening tip. That lead quickly vanished as Cheboygan scored the next eight points, powering to a 15-9 lead after the first quarter. Aided by nine Cheboygan turnovers, the Hurons cut the margin to 33-30 at the half. A three-point bomb by Jaeger and an old-fashioned three-point play, a basket, foul, and free throw, by Cercone gave the Hurons a brief lead at the 2:59 mark of the second quarter. The Chiefs went on a 13-2 run to begin the third quarter, leading 51-36 at the end of the frame. Free throws by Jaeger, then a rebound shot by Greene, cut the margin to seven at 62-55 with 1:26 left, but that would be as close as the Hurons came. Greene had 24 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, while Cercone had nine, and LaLonde and Jaeger each scored eight.
THE JV playe
Both teams are back in action Friday in Newberry and host Hillman Tuesday.