Hurons notch first win of season over Inland Lakes; top St. Ignace for second straight win

The frustrating drought is over. Chalk up win number one for the Hurons as they trounced the Inland Lakes Bulldogs 65-48.The Hurons followed the win Tuesday with a win Friday over St. Ignace. More details on that will be posted later. “I’m really happy for our team. We’ve been working hard in practice and we tried a few new things tonight and they worked well,” said Huron coach Karl Grambau said after Tuesday’s win. The win avenges a loss last week in Rogers City to the same Bulldogs team. The difference Tuesday came in the post.

For the Hurons, the return of junior center Justin Senff and the scrappy play of Austin Fairbanks on Bulldog center Dave Wieck helped the cause. Although the Hurons allowed quite a few offensive putbacks, as Wieck fouled out early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldog offense exited with him.

WITH THE Hurons leading 50-46 with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter. Wieck raced to half court on a double-team in the Bulldogs’ press. His foul of Derek McLennan sent McLennan to the line and Wieck to the bench with his fifth foul. From that point on the Hurons ran off 13 straight points until the Bulldogs hit a meaningless pair of free throws with 41 seconds left in the game.

Rogers City jumped out to a 12-6 lead, on the strength of three-pointers from Bret Karsten and McLennan and a pretty rebound and follow from Senff. Justin Wilbert’s fast-break jumper gave the Hurons a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Great offensive rebounding led to a Bulldog surge in the second quarter. They trailed 27-25 heading into halftime.

WITH WIECK back in the game after sitting out the entire second quarter with foul trouble, the Bulldogs rallied to take the lead at 33-32. With both teams pressing, the teams tied at 42-42 with 1:33 left in the third quarter. Then seven straight Huron points, five by Senff, and the final bucket from McLennan off a nice pass from Isaac Momrik, gave the Hurons a 49-42 lead at the end of the third quarter.

MCLENNAN LED the team in scoring with 14 while Wilbert added 11. Charley Smolinski and Se

nff had nine points each. Last Friday, the Hurons dropped a 61-51 contest with Alcona. Rogers City led 17-15 at the end of the first quarter but trailed 27-24 at the half. Karsten led the Hurons in scoring with 13 while Smolinski and Momrik had eight points each. Alcona sophomore Jimmy Flynn led all scorers with 23.

THE JV SQUAD, under the coaching of Nick Rethman, improved to 7-3 with wins over Alcona and Inland Lakes. The Hurons came from behind in a 47-46 win over the Tigers. Rogers City trailed 36-31 heading into the fourth quarter. Andy Tulgestke and Eric Kieliszewski each had nine points in the game.

A running clock in the second half meant bad news for Inland Lakes in a 56-13 Huron win. The Hurons took control early, racing out to a 29-2 lead after one quarter and led 39-5 at halftime. Tulgestke had 21 points while Evan Vogelheim added nine. The Hurons host St. Ignace Friday and Posen Tuesday.

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