Cards win big in season opener; on the home floor tonight
by Peter Jakey-Managing Editor
It was a great start to the season as the Onaway boys’ basketball team routed Harbor Light Christian in Monday’s season opener, 83-28.
The only thing head coach Eddy Szymoniak could expect going into the first game was that his squad would be hungry to play a basketball game. The boys had been practicing for weeks without a scrimmage in anticipation of the first game. The program graduated four of its starters from arguably the best team in a generation, but it did not take long to put that first victory in the win column.
“We were really able to push the ball up the court and I thought we did really well in transition,” said Szymoniak. “We worked on a lot of different defenses to find out which ones would work best for us. I was not happy with our defense in the first half.”
He asked the players to buckle it down and they did just that by allowing only eight points in the final 16 minutes.
“I was happy with the way we picked things up,” said Szymoniak. “We wore them down and moved the ball around very well as a team.”
The Cards had their first big test last night at Bellaire and return home tonight for a game against county rival R
Szymoniak said the Harbor game gave them an opportunity to work on things and get some guys playing time in leading up to the Bellaire and Rogers City games.
“Now it’s go time,” said Szymoniak. “We know we have our work cut out for us.”
Bradley Brewbaker had a game-high 27 points. “Not bad for your first varsity game,” the coach said. “He missed some lay ups so he could have had 35 to 36 points.” At one point, Brewbaker was six-for-seven from the 3-point line. Joe Sigsby had 23 and five rebounds. Morgan McLean finished with 10 points.
“If everything comes together, we have the potential to have a better team than we had last year,” said Szymoniak. “I see the talent and depth. We have some things that are better than last year.”