Slashing, driving Hurons push to 72-58 win over Blue Devils

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

The Hurons (2-4) took a satisfying 72-58 win last week over the visiting Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils before a supportive Thursday night crowd.

Paced by the one-two scoring punch of Erik Meharg with 25 and Justin Idalski with 21, the Hurons used aggressive defense and good ball movement to subdue the Devils. The win came after four straight losses following the opening night win over Posen.

Rogers City took control of the game in the early going, bursting out to an early 8-0 lead after a three-pointer by senior center Devon Ferris. Two driving baskets by Idalski and a put-back by Kevin Fairbanks gave the Hurons a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

OTHER THAN a couple of triple tries by Ferris and Meharg, most of the Hurons? baskets came from the inside either through drives to the hoop or after offensive rebounds. ?This new offense is designed for a lot of movement. We have the speed guys to do it with Justin and Erik,? said coach Tom Adrian. ?Our guys stuck their nose in there and did what they had to do.?

Tyler Szumila hit a short jumper and two more Idalski drives upped the Huron lead to 22-9 with 6:40 left in the second quarter. Then the Devils mounted their best rally of the night, scoring the next eight points to cut the lead to 22-17 with 4:08 on the clock. Ferris stopped the run with an offensive rebound and a banker. Meharg added four free throws, a driving lay-up and a three-pointer in a 10-0 Huron run.

IDALSKI?S HUSTLING rebound and return shot with seven seconds left in the half made the score 37-22 as both teams headed into the locker rooms.

Soo made another run on the home team midway through the third quarter. Following an Evan Wagner pass to setup a hoop from Josh Curtis to make the score 46-32, the Devils used a full court man-to-man to spark an 11-2 run. That cut the lead to 48-43 at the end of the third quarter.

Soo nearly caught the Hurons rushing too quickly on the offensive end late in the game. With a 61-49 lead and 3:06 left in the game, the Devils quickly scored six points to cut the lead to six points.

A couple of quick trips with rushed shots led coach Adrian to call time out. He told the team to look at the clock, secure the ball, and take careful shots, if any shots at all. That speech calmed the anxious players as they scored the next 11 points to ice

the game. ?I told them that the clock was the Soo?s enemy. Only lay-ups and foul shots is what I wanted them to shoot,? Adrian said.

Meharg scored 25, Idalski 21, Fairbanks added 10 and Ferris scored seven in the win. THE J.V. HURONS improved to 3-3 with a 52-41 win over the Soo. Rogers City led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and 29-20 at halftime before the teams were squared at 32-32 after three quarters.

Joe Kasabowski scored 19 while Jesse Wilbert added seven. The J.V. made good on 17-of-24 from the free throw line while the Soo made 16-of-20 in a hot-shooting effort by both teams.

The boys play at Inland Lakes tonight (Thursday) and host Cheboygan Friday. They play at Posen Tuesday and host Newberry January 22.