Vikings get first win at Mio in 11 tries

This time, the Vikings held back a fourth quarter charge to capture the program?s first win at Mio in 11 seasons and move into a tie for first place in the North Star League. The final Tuesday was 66-62. Just like the December 16 game, Posen (5-1, 5-2) let a double-digit lead get away in the second half as the Thunderbolts started finding the scoring touch from the three-point arc. The Vikings led 44-28 with 2:40 left to play in the third quarter, but Mio charged back to within two, 64-62, with less than 20 seconds left in the game.

Senior Noah Schellie made three-of-four free throws, which proved to be critical, after the Thunderbolts? John Larrison made a four-point play to trim the lead to two. Junior Matt Ponik brought the ball up court, and as the defender closed in on him, he lobbed the ball to wide open Russ Kamyszek waiting underneath the net for the easiest points of the game to clinch Posen?s first win in the Mio barn since the 1991-92 season.

THE FANS, PLAYERS, and coaches let out a collective sigh of relief when Kamyszek?s shot went through. ?I knew we weren?t going to let it slip away, I have confidence in my team,? said junior Matt Ponik. ?I love it, it?s so exciting,? said junior Aaron Hincka, who had a team-high 21 points and 20 rebounds. ?It gets you really fired up.? ?I can?t smile any bigger, and I can?t be any happier than I am right now,? said coach Ron Misiak, who is 2-1 against the Bolts in the last three meetings between the schools. He is the first coach since Randy Idalski won 61-53 to pull off the trick at Mio.

Both schools took the road contest in the two games this season, so they?ll remain tied at the top of the NSL, unless one of them slips with a conference loss. The other contender appears to be Hale, defeated by Mio last Friday by 13. The Vikes don?t face the Eagles until February 13. Misiak said he stayed with the man-to-man defense the entire game, which his troops had been working on in preparation for Mio. ?At times we really put the pressure on them,? he said. But when the Posen players relaxed, even for a moment, the Bolts took advantage of it. ?They just kept finding a way to get back in,? said Misiak.

EARLY IN THE game, the Thunderbolts had the upper hand. After the first five minutes of the first quarter, Mio was up by five, 11-6. From the three minute mark of the first quarter and on, Posen took command of the game, going on a 13-1 run. Senior guard Ron Kroll (21 points) hit back-to-back three pointers to make it 15-11. The Thunderbolts looked rattled and the home crowd was silenced. Even after a couple of timeouts midway through the second quarter by Mio coach Dennis Kann, the surging Vikings couldn?t be stopped. A lay-in by Kroll with 2:57 left in the first half gave PHS an 11-point advantage. The halftime score was 32-22. Mio took longer in the lockeroom at the break, but it was Posen that came out on fire and opened a 16-point lead halfway through the third.

The last three minutes of the quarter were disastrous, though, as Mio went on a 12-2 run. Posen fans remembering the December 16 collapse feared history was repeating itself as the fourth quarter opened with Posen on top by seven. As the scoreboard went on the fritz (blinking on and off) with just under six minutes to play, the lead for the Vikings started to build again. After a three by Ron it was back to 10. Ronnie dished a pass to brother Richie for a field goal, which was followed by a jumper by Richie just inside the three point line, to make it 58-43.

THE THUNDERBOLTS took one last shot at the visitors. Larrison made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to six. Schellie made one-of-two shots from the charity stripe, but Larrison countered with a three pointer with 22 seconds remaining to trim the advantage to four. Schellie on the other end sank both free throws, but Larrison hit another three, and with a foul shot, made it a four-point play. Hearts started beat

ing faster, as thoughts of a three pointer to win the game, became all too real. Ponik brought the ball up the court in front of the Mio bench and threw a pass to a waiting Kamyszek who made no mistake with it.

POSEN — USED a 14-6 run in the third quarter to blow open a close game Friday against Arenac Eastern and roll to a 65-36 win. Ron Kroll had 21 points, while Ponik had 18. Hincka scored 10 points and brought down 10 boards. The Posen JV lost to Mio 55-39 as their record slips to 4-3. Two of the losses have come to the Thunderbolts. Matt Szczerowski scored a team-high 14. Joe Darga chipped in nine.

Last Friday against A-E, Szczerowski netted 22 points and collected 14 rebounds in a 65-40 win. Brandon Hentkowski added 13.