Posen sweeps series with Rogers City

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

With players clad in purple socks and coaches in lavender shirts, the Posen boys? basketball team took a 46-30 win over Rogers City last week. In the second game of the coaches against cancer event, as the girls? teams played the night before, Posen used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to build a lead it never lost. An inside turnaround basket by Devin Hilla and a free throw by Jesse Wilbert gave the Hurons a 3-2 lead at the 5:21 point of the first quarter before the packed gym. That lasted less than 30 seconds before the Posen run.

Jerome Ciarkowski?s inside shot and a rebound off his own miss by David Kerr got things going for the Vikings. Travis Hirshman capped the run with a bucket off a rebound as Posen led 12-3 at the end of the first quarter. The Vikings? fierce 2-1-2 zone kept the Hurons off balance until midway through the second quarter. Then a 12-0 Huron spurt, capped by three-pointers by Chris Peacock and Austin Brege, cut the Viking lead to 21-18 at halftime.

A few adjustments during halftime had the Vikings ready to play a strong third quarter. Senior guard Shane Hentkowski set the tone with a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half. Posen outscored Rogers City 11-3 in the cri

tical third quarter to stretch the lead to 32-21. ?Tough defense has been our bread and butter most of the season. For three minutes in the second quarter we let up and for three minutes again in the third, but defense is what kept us in the game,? said Posen coach Steve Hentkowski. Even though the Hurons have a taller team, the Vikings were able to hold them in check. ?They are a much improved team since the last time we played them and (coach) Jesse is doing a good job with them,? Hentkowski said. Rogers City cut the lead to nine, at 36-27 with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter, but couldn?t come any closer.

?Three points in the first quarter and three points in the third quarter isn?t going to win you many games. Our kids have to begin to realize that you have to work as hard in practice as you do in the game. We just need to work harder to get to where we want to be,? said Huron coach Jesse Streich. Coach Hentkowski said he appreciated the support of all the Posen and Rogers City fans in their fundraiser for cancer. Shane Hentkowski had 13 points while Kerr added 11 for Posen. Top scorers for the Hurons were Brege and Peacock with seven points each. Posen hit on 16-of-33 free-throw attempts while the Hurons connected on 6-of-14 from the line. In the junior varsity contest, Posen won 60-10. A 23-2 first quarter gave the Vikings a lead they never relinquished. Luke Litwinski had 25 while Bandon Dietz had 11 and Warren Beach added 10. Colton Fessler?s four points were tops for the Hurons.