Hurons claim home district; lose in regional semifinals at TC West

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

Mason County Central (MCC) ended the Hurons? hopes of a regional title by stopping the Hurons 56-46 Monday at Traverse City West High School. ?We came out a little sluggish right away but then we fought back. We played tough defense. There are some days when we are offensively challenged and this was one of those days,? said Huron coach Jesse Streich.

Rogers City (13-10) fell behind 4-0 in the game?s first 90 seconds, but came back to take the lead with 1:33 left in the first quarter. Junior forward Jordan Bellmore hit one-of-two free throws to give the Hurons a 7-6 lead. That came right after senior center Evan Wagner went down with an ankle injury. He had the ankle treated and tried to walk it off on the sidelines, but looked to be hampered when he returned at the start of the second quarter. SENIOR GUARD Erik Meharg tied the score at 10-10 with a three-pointer to start the second quarter. A variety of players had the chance to guard Meharg, each using a bumping tactic to try to get him off-stride. That had limited success, as Meharg netted 31 points on a series of drives and four three-pointers.

?Erik came to play. He is amazing. He is probably the best player I have seen for a while at Rogers City. He can go left, he can go right and he is an unbelievable defender. He just plays awesome defense,? Streich said. Even though the MCC defense keyed in on Meharg, he was able to get off quality shots. A lid seemed to cover the rim for the rest of the team as the Hurons had scoring chances that wouldn?t fall. ?We missed a few bunnies out there tonight, but that is how we have been all year. We talked about how the competition gets better the deeper we go in the tournament. We have just got to put those in. We work on that every day,? Streich said. Bellmore scored seven points while Chris Waibel finished with five.

MCC went up by seven before the Hurons chiseled into the lead. A behind-the-back dribble and spin move from the left of the basket to the lane by Meharg scored two. He followed that with a steal, wrestling the ball from an MCC player near halfcourt, then connected on a three-pointer from the right wing to knot the score at 19-19. With 2:08 left in the second quarter, MCC called timeout. MCC took a 21-20 lead into the locker room at halftime. IN THE THIRD period, Wager?s rebound and assist set up a Meharg basket and an inbounds play netted two more points for a cutting Meharg. That came sandwiched around three three-pointers for MCC, causing Streich to rethink his defense, switching from zone to man.

?We haven?t played man-to-man all year. You could see they were just going to stall and most teams aren?t comfortable stalling. So I though I we would try to force the issue a little bit,? he said. MCC went up 32-25, after Waibel hit a free-throw with 4:46 left in the third, and led 35-31, after Waibel drained a shot from the corner. ?I thought we could get some momentum going and our boys could finish,? Streich said. But MCC responded with the next seven points to lead 42-31 with one minute left in the third. Meharg?s three-pointer and layup moment later showed the crowd that Rogers City wouldn?t go out without a fight as the quarter ended with MCC leading by six at 42-36. While holding MCC scoreless for the first two and one-half minutes, the Hurons rallied to tie the score. Another triple from Meharg, and a free throw came before a basket from Bellmore to tie the score at 42-42.

But MCC scored the next six points, all on inside shots and ran up a 53-44 lead with 1:13 left to seal the win. Streich gave credit to MCC, who defeated Mesick in the district finals, to earn the right to face the Hurons in Monday?s regional semifinals. ?They made their free throws and they made their shots. We just needed to get someone else to step up and make some big shots, but it didn?t happen. Tonight wasn?t our night,? Streich said. MCC faced powerful Suttons Bay (21-1), an easy 81-58 winner over Boyne City in the second regional semifinal game also on Monday, in Wednesday?s regional final. The winner of that game plays Tuesday in the Lake Superior State University quarterfinal against the winner of the Marquette regional. That final had Rudyard playing against Gwinn.

ROGERS CITY MOVED on to the regionals after capturing its second straight district boys? basketball title Friday. Last year, the Hurons beat a heavily favored Hale team on Hale’s home court before a loud home crowd. This season, the Hurons came in as favorites on the home court and held off a game Inland Lakes squad for a hard-fought 54-40 win. Meharg, as he has done many times this season, made big plays when his team needed one, after two straight sloppy Huron possessions. With the Hurons leading 43-40 with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter, Meharg came up big.

First he fed senior center Wagner for a fade-away shot from the baseline. Then Meharg hit an indescribable acrobatic drive through the lane before he stole the ball and netted another quick two points with an uncontested layup. That forced Inland Lakes to call timeout as the Huron student section went wild. Meharg followed that with two free throws. Free throws by Waibel and Tyler Szumila capped a 12-0 Huron run to end the game. Meharg had 20 points to lead the team in scoring. In the district semifinal game Wednesday, the Hurons used a great start and balanced scoring to earn a 73-59 win over Alcona last week. With Wednesday’s game at 8-5 early in the first quarter, Rogers City went on an 8-0 run, keyed by great pressing defense and led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter and 37-19 at halftime.

Meharg had 16 points, seven assists and seven steals to pace the Hurons. Chris Vogelheim added 15 points and four steals while Bellmore had 14 p

oints and eight rebounds. Tim Bober scored nine points while Wagner scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. STREICH HAD no complaints about his team?s effort as the season ended Monday in Traverse City. ?It would have been nice to get to the next step. Last year we were a bit surprised that we beat Hale (in the district finals). But this year we had expectations to get to this game and win this game. I am trying to build a program. I want to be here for a long time and that is just something that we want to expect out of our kids. I have big goals and it is okay to dream once in a while,? Streich said.

The team will graduate seniors Erik Meharg, Evan Wagner, Pat Quaine, Andy Grulke, Tim Bober, Chris Vogelheim, and Tyler Szumila. ?In my eyes the effort and the hustle are there. It would have been nice to get this. This is a great group of kids. It will be hard to replace the leadership,? Streich said as his first season as head coach came to an end.