Winners of 15 straight, Posen focuses on rematch with Cedarville

The Posen boys? basketball team (16-2), winners of 15 straight games, will settle for a share of the North Star League title. They had pinned their hopes on a NSL school defeating Mio and winning an outright championship. The Vikings did their part by finishing 13-1 in the NSL, but had to see if the Bolts would catch them with two remaining games in the league. They did. Mio defeated Atlanta, 68-53, Tuesday evening, resulting in a tie at the top of the NSL. Posen had no trouble with De Tour on the home floor Tuesday, taking a 43-point victory over the Raiders, 76-33.

DE TOUR FAILED to register its 10th point of the game until two minutes were remaining in the first half. The score was 44-9 at that point. The running clock, when the lead is 35 points or more, went into effect midway through the third quarter. Even with the sizable lead, which was appropriate, considering it was ?Fat Tuesday,? it could have been more if the Vikings hadn?t turned the ball over so much. The turnovers were doubled from last Friday?s win against Rogers City.

?De Tour suspended one of it?s ball players,? said coach Ron Misiak. ?Their big man in the middle was gone and we totally controlled the inside, especially when we had the starters in. We just took the game over from the get-go.? Every player but one scored. Junior center Aaron Hincka had a game-high 22 points. With the game well in hand, the only excitement was seeing if Hincka would be able to throw down a dunk. Attempts were made, but the passes were not the best.

?WHEN YOU play the kind of basketball we played, against the team we were playing against, who is a little bit lesser than we are, you try to do too many things too quickly instead of setting the plays up,? said Misiak. ?It gets a little bit out of hand and they turned the ball over.? Are they going to pay for it in practice?

?I would think so,? said Misiak, with a serious laugh. The one positive statistic was the 25 team assists. Senior guard Ron Kroll dished out seven of them. Junior forward Matt Ponik had 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. ?I think right now, the guys are focused on the Cedarville game, because they were the team to beat us to start the season off,? said Misiak.

Posen hosts Cedarville Tuesday, in a game originally scheduled for Friday, and then finishes the regular season at Rogers City, March 5. The district pairings were announced last Wednesday with the Vikings matched up with an improving Hillman squad, who came up with the biggest upset in the league this season when the Tigers defeated Atlanta l

ast week. Posen?s district game against the Tigers will be at Johannesburg-Lewiston High School, March 10 at 7 p.m.

EVERY PLAYER on the JV scored in an 85-35 win over De Tour and four players scored in double figures. Matt Szczerowski had a game-high 14 and was followed by Brandon Hentkowski (12), Brad Haske (10), and Apollo Schuch (10). Others getting into the scoring column were Jordan Purol (eight), Joe Darga (eight), and Matt Styma (eight). Rogers City defeated Posen in JV action last Friday, after the Vikings let a 31-15 halftime lead get away from them. Houston Smolinski scored 13 points in the contest.

With a 23-10 third quarter against Fairview, the JV won, 65-55 February 17. Szczerowski scored 15, while Smolinski contributed 12.

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