Mio ends Hurons season at districts

The tournament trail ended at its first stop for the Huron basketball team, literally stalled by a patient Mio team. The Thunderbolts took a 37-27 win from the Hurons last Wednesday to end the Hurons? season at 12-9. Mio used a slowdown offense to combat the Hurons? advantage in size. Thunderbolt coach Ty McGregor?s team got the lead and was in no hurry to shoot. The coach barked out ?1-2-3-4-5-6? each time down the court, counting the number of passes made before his team even considered shooting the ball. The strategy worked against the Huron zone defense.

?We were in no hurry to shoot, once we had the lead,? he said. ?The players did what I asked them to do.?

The win left a shocked Huron team to wonder what had just happened. ?It is like a bad dream,? said Rogers City coach Karl Grambau. ?Mio hustled and didn?t do anything that surprised us. They just made their shots and we didn?t.?

?We struggled shooting the ball. We had good shots, but just couldn?t make them.?

ROGERS CITY started well, with Bret Karsten hitting two lay-ups and Jordan Claus draining a jumper from the corner to get the Hurons out to a 6-0 lead. Karsten hit two more driving shots to give the Hurons a 10-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. He finished with 12 points in the game. Mio tied the game at 15-15 with four minutes left in the first half, then used the three-ball to gun over the Hurons? zone for 21-17 lead with 1:23 left in the half. Moving the ball quickly up court, Claus nailed an open jumper with 1:03 on the clock.

The Thunderbolts slowed down the pace, waiting for a final shot. With two seconds left, Mio senior Corey Wright launched a three-point attempt but was fouled. He connected on two-of-three to give the ?Bolts a 23-19 halftime lead. The nightmare great darker in the third quarter. The Hurons put up just two points in the frame, as sophomore forward Cody Wirgau rebounded a Scott Kowalewsky miss and converted it into two points. Meanwhile the Huron zone limited the Thunderbolts to just six points, but that increased the lead to 28-21 in a slow-paced quarter.

GRAMBAU?S CHARGES seemed to regain some spark, briefly, at the outset of the fourth quarter. A man-to-man defense set up a steal and a la

y-up by Karsten and another turnover set up a basket for Kowalewsky under the hoop. That cut the lead to 28-25 in the first minute of the fourth quarter. But the Hurons would score only one more basket, a jumper from the free throw line by senior Andy Tulgetske with 5:39 left in the game. The Hurons had nine possessions in the final five minutes, with eight ending in missed shots and one lost on a turnover.

?We knew we wanted to play with the lead, so they couldn?t go into the slow-down. I credit Mio?s defense and their relentless hustle,? Grambau said. Much can be learned from loss like this, Grambau said.

?First of all, I want to thank the seniors for their efforts all year. And for the returnees, I want them to remember this game because it will make us better next year.? Kowalewsky had five points, nine rebounds and a block. Claus had four points, Tulgetske had tow points and six rebounds. Trent Holmes and Cody Wirgau each had two points and Wirgau added four rebounds.