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by Peter Jakey
Managing Editor--
It’s a game Huron boys’ basketball coach Jesse Streich said his team has been preparing a week-and-a-half for, as Rogers City (0-4) gets the 15-minute bus ride to Posen (4-1) to grab a share of county bragging rights and their first win.
“It would be huge for us, to end 2011 with a win, and springboard us into 2012,” said Streich. It’ll take a better shooting from the field and at the free-throw line, and they’ll have to break the press.
“We know they are going to come out in a one-three-one, half-court trap,” said Streich. “Our guards have to be better at handling the ball. We’ve been working, gosh, probably for 10 days to get ready for this game.”
The coach also knows Posen will be hungry for a win, after the Vikings suffered their first defeat of the season at Alcona, Dec. 19.
“Rogers City played us pretty tough the first time around,” said Vikings’ head coach Steve Hentkowski. “We’re not expecting anything easy.” The Vikings squandered a 14-point fourth lead when the Hurons went on a late 17-8 run.
Rogers City was within five with a couple of opportunities to get it to three, but Posen held its ground and iced the ball to seal the win.
Hentkowski is still waiting for his club to put everything together, because when they do, it’ll be trouble for their opponents.
“We’ve played some good basketball, but we haven’t put together a great four quarters consecutively, yet,” said Hentkowski. “Hopefully, the Christmas break isn’t going to affect the kids too much. We’ll see, and we’ll get them ready to go.”
Hentkowski said they’ve been working on cleaning up mistakes made at Alcona.
“(The boys) know we should have had the Alcona game and we’ll see how they respond,” said Hentkowski.
The final score in the first meeting between RC and Posen, which was opening night, Dec. 5, was 50-43.
“If we hold them to 50 points again, I like our chances,” said Streich. “We have to make our easy shots.”
Hentkowski is looking for his boys to have the passion to play defense.
“It’s something that is missing during moments of the game,” said Hentkowski. “It’s something I’ve addressed in practice and we’ll see who is going to take over in that leadership role.”
It will be the “coaches versus cancer” contest as the schools try to raise money to help find a cure.
The girls played in their winter break basketball contest Wednesday (past press time).
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