Cards gearing up for Hillman matchup

by Peter Jakey-Managing Editor

Onaway had its final regular season tune-up before getting a shot at knocking off Hillman in next week’s district tournament.

The Cards (13-7) kept it close last Friday against visiting Joburg, but a bad stretch in the third quarter was costly.

Brad Brewbaker’s 3-pointer and Cortez Washington’s layup gave the Red Birds a 32-31 early third quarter lead. It would be their last of the night as Joburg went on a 17-2 run to close out the quarter and coasted the rest of the way. The final score was 68-48.

“I thought we were solid through two-and-a-half quarters,” said head coach Eddy Szymoniak. “In the second half, we had a hard time getting the ball inside. They were really trying to pack it inside against Pat (Dunn). We became an outside shooting team and we did not hit any shots.”

Szymoniak said Joburg started to feel the momentum and “were beating us down the court.”

It was another game without all-state candidate Joe Sigsby, who has been resting a strained knee. The Cards have been practicing this week for Wednesday’s district semifinal game against a Hillman (19-1) team that expects to

win another district.

Onaway is hosting the district tournament next week and tipoff against Hillman (19-1) in the second game of an evening doubleheader Wednesday. Wolverine plays the winner of the Posen/Vanderbilt game at 6 p.m. and Hillman and Onaway will follow.

“We need somebody else to step up,” said Szymoniak. “We need another threat.” Dunn led the offense with 15, while JV call up Randy Tibbits put down two, 3-pointers and had 10.

After the Joburg game, Szymoniak reminded his players in the locker room that their records are even at 0-0 and Wednesday starts the second season.

Posen and Vanderbilt kick off the district Monday night at 6 p.m. in Onaway.