Steals and a dunk, highlight second half surge for streaking Vikings

While the Viking basketball team (7-2, 7-1) was eventually to get out the brooms against the Hillman Tigers on the home floor last Friday, Posen couldn?t mop up the scrappy visitors and claim their sixth straight victory until the final quarter. Back-to-back steals and lay-ups by senior Ron Kroll near the end of the third quarter took the air from Hillman?s sail, but the exclamation point on the 61-39 win came from junior Aaron Hincka who sent the crowd home with smiles after his first career dunk in the closing seconds.

Hillman was down by six at halftime, 26-21, and after a 35-point blitzing at Hillman in December, some Posen fans were scratching their heads, wondering why the Vikings hadn?t put the game away already.

HEAD COACH Ron Misiak said some of the players were sick all week, and didn?t practice. To Hillman?s credit, Misiak said they played hard. ?They scrapped against us,? he said. Posen took control in the second half, outscoring the Tigers, 35-18. Hillman was within six midway through the third quarter when Hincka made a nice pass to Kroll for a field goal and an eight-point advantage.

Hillman came back with the next two baskets, narrowing the gap to four, but the Tigers wouldn?t get any closer, as the Vikings would outscore them 30-12 the rest of the way. Kroll left little doubt as to who would win when he picked the pocket of offensive players trying to bring the ball past halfcourt on consecutive plays. The plays ?deflated? Hillman, Misiak said.

JUNIOR MATT PONIK scored two of his 15 points on a jumper at the end of the third quarter for a 38-29 Viking lead. The Tigers started the fourth with a bucket, but Posen stayed on track with a pair of free throws from Kroll and a nice-looking play from Ponik and Hincka. Ponik blocked an attempted layup by a Hillman player and passed the ball to Hincka heading the other way, who turned it into a quick two points. Hincka would save the highlight-reel moment of the game for the final seconds of the contest. He had been looking for an opportunity to dunk in a game, but coach Misiak?s policy is, if a player misses a dunk he will be taken out of the game.

With time ticking down, Hincka found himself in the open court with nobody

in front of him and made no mistake with it, dunking to the right of the basket. Hincka had a game-high 22 points, while Kroll had 14. Hillman?s Shane Allen led his squad with 22 points.

THE JUNIOR VARSITY started the perfect night against Hillman with a 55-38 win. Brad Haske had a game-high 16 points, while Brandon Hentkowski finished with 14. Joe Darga had 13 points. In the 40-20 loss against Au Gres January 16, Darga and Haske both finished with seven points each. The game Tuesday at De Tour was canceled because of the storm, with no rescheduled date in place, according to athletic director Cliff Kelly.

There was a reshuffling of the schedule as the home game against Rogers City was moved to March 5, because Rogers City rescheduled its canceled game with Hillman Tuesday for March 2.