Hurons take narrow win over Cardinals

by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor

The Onaway Cardinals gave the Hurons all they could handle in a 60-58 win in Onaway Tuesday. The Cardinals fell just short of pulling off an upset of the Hurons after a fourth-quarter rally. The Hurons led 42-41 heading into the fourth quarter, powered by two outside jumpers by Tyler Szmulia in the last two minutes of play. Four free throws by Kevin Fairbanks a jumper from Erik Meharg, and a tip-in by Fairbanks stretched the lead to 50-43. Then Onaway mounted a 6-2 run, capped by free throws with 3:57 left by Jan O?Bradovich, who had a game-high 20 points.

BUT ONAWAY had momentum and the crowd behind it as it pressed the Hurons. Rogers City patiently broke the press and got a bucket from senior guard Justin Idalski. He drove the right baseline, passed under the basket and hit a reverse layup to give the Hurons a 56-51 lead with 3:12 left in the game. Jordan Zempel took a charge on the other end to give the Hurons the ball and then he hit one-of-two from the line. Onaway would not back down, nailing a three and then a breakaway layup to cut the lead to two points with 50 seconds left on the clock.

COACH TOM Adrian called a timeout and reminded his team that the clock was the enemy of the Cards. Rogers City weaved the ball around until Onaway fouled Zempel. He hit the first free throw and then Evan Wagner grabbed the rebound off the missed second shot. Onaway had to foul again and Idalski hit one-of-two for the final Huron point. A shot at the buzzer gave the Card?s their final points. Wagner?s 12 points paced a balanced scoring attack. Meharg and Idalski scored 10 each while Zempel added eight points. The Huron bench scored 27 points while the Card bench contributed just two points.

?We had a little trouble there in the end. I guess you can?t blame the kids for being aggressive, but I wanted to shoot just foul shots in the end or get layups to the big guys,? Adrian said.

IN THE FIRST quarter, Andy Grulke?s jumper gave the Hurons an early 4-0 lead but the Cards took charge with a 7-0 run. O

naway led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter and Rogers City led 28-26 at halftime. The Hurons (5-6) took a 63-51 win over Newberry January 22. Rogers City led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter and 25-21 at halftime. Meharg?s 15 points led the team while Devon Ferris and Idalski each scored 11 points. The junior varsity won both of their games this week, with a 56-43 win over Onaway coming on Tuesday. Leading 44-20 at the end of three quarters, the Hurons held off a 23-point attack by the Cards in the final quarter. Jordan Bellmore had 17 points while Jesse Wilbert and Chris Waibel each scored six points.

Against Newberry, 14 of coach Chris Shay?s 15 players scored at least one point in a 63-37 win over the Indians. Austin Brege led the team with 11 points. The Hurons host Hillman Tuesday and play at St. Ignace February 5.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.