Hurons win district; play Monday at Traverse City West regional
Rogers City (13-9) moves on to the regionals after capturing its second straight district boys basketball title. 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.
Senior guard Erik Meharg, as he has done many times this season, made big plays when his team needed one. With the Hurons leading 43-40 with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter, after two straight sloppy Huron possessions, Meharg came up big. First he fed senior center Evan Wagner for a fade-away. Then Meharg hit an indescribable drive through the lane before he stole the ball and netted another layup.
That forced Inland Lakes to call timeout as the Huron student section went wind. He followed that with two free throws. Free throws by Chris Waibel and Tyler Szumila capped the 12-0 Huron tun 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 Wednesday.
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 Jordan Bellmore had 14 points and eight rebounds. Tim Bober scored nine points while Evan Wagner scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Hurons play Monday at Traverse City West High School in the 6 p.m. game. They play Mason County Central (8-14) who defeated Mesick (9-13) 66-50 in the Manton district finals.
The second game of the regionals features Boyne City (4-18), who defeated Charlevoix (13-9) 65-64 in the East Jordan district and Suttons Bay (20-1) who defeated Traverse City St. Francis 53-51 in the St. Francis district.
The regional finals is set for Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. at TC West.
Posen put a scare in 19-1 Hillman Wednesday night at the Class D district tournament at Hale. The Vikings (12-10) were down by one, 47-46, and had possession of the ball in the final 30 seconds, but Hillman came up with a defensive stop and made their free throws to fend off the challenge. Posen set the tone in the semifinal game, leading nearly all of the first quarter. Th
The lead changed hands in the early minutes of the second, before Hillman went up 25-23 at the break. They clung to the lead until Jerome Ciarkowski, who had a game-high 20 points, made a field goal midway through the third to give the Vikes a 29-28 lead. The game stayed close until the final buzzer, a far cry from the first two meetings won by Hillman by 18 and 27.
?They played really loose, they were focused on what they had to do,? said head coach Steve Hentkowski. ?Our defense was very sound.? He said six missed layups in the fourth quarter was the difference.
?If we put in half of those, we?re going home with a ?W,? ? he added. ?I?m not disappointed in these guys. We had a great season.? The district final Friday will match up co-North Star League champions Hale and Hillman.