SENIOR CHASE Grulke looks for an opening to get the ball to a teammate or drive to the basket Tuesday in Hillman. Grulke had nine points and seven rebounds in the contest. The Hurons are at home Friday against St. Ignace for the homecoming game. (Photo by Angie Asam)

Tuesday the Rogers City Hurons boys’ basketball team was in Hillman to take on the Tigers. The Hurons started slow as the home team took an early 5-0 lead before coach Jesse Streich called a timeout and got his team going on the scoring attack. Out of the timeout senior Chase Grulke cut to the basket for two followed by two by Chris Peaccock to make the score 5-4 in favor of the Tigers.

It was back and forth from there for the remainder of the first quarter with the buzzer sounding and the Hurons down by one, 11-10. Rogers City was finally able to tie the score with 4:28 left in the half on a basket by senior Devin Hilla. Using swarming defense to hold the Tigers down and swift passing and good ball movement the Hurons outscored the home team 8-5 to end the quarter taking the 22-19 lead into the half.

Led by Hilla with eight and Grulke with seven the Hurons looked to have a good game plan against the Tigers going into the second half. The third quarter was much like the beginning of the game with the teams battling back and forth and the quarter ending at 29-27 in favor of the Tigers. Cold shooting by the Hurons, turnovers and fouls would prove to be the difference in the fourth quarter as the Tigers were finally able to pull away from the Hurons outscoring them 18-7 to take the 47-36 victory.

“Our guard play just wasn’t what we expect if we want to be in any game,” said coach Streich. Hillman made 19 free throws in the contest while the Hurons shot just 50 percent from the charity stripe, which also contributed to the loss. “We played good in the first half but we had a terrible second half. This is game 12 of the season, the intensity should be there. We had a chance to win on someone else’s home court and we came out flat in the second half,” said a frustrated coach Streich. Hilla led the scoring attack for the Hurons with aggressive play down low as he notched 15 points and snagged eight rebounds. Grulke added nine points and seven rebounds. Austin Brege had four points while Paul Wilbert, Josh Vogelheim, Andrew Freel and Peacock each had two points.

“We play tough teams, we have a tough schedule. When we play schools our own class size we expect to compete. We got out hustled, out worked and they wanted it more than we did, that frustrates me,” said coach Streich. THE JUNIOR varsity Hurons also fell to the Tigers 61-22. Colton Fessler led the scoring attack with nine points. Chris Lopez and Shaun Roby each had five, Tyler Longoria had two and Nathan Hilla had one.

Saturday the Hurons hosted DeTour in a makeup game. After trailing 17-16 at the half the Hurons came out hot in the third quarter outscoring the visitors 16-10 and holding onto that lead in the final quarter to win 41-39. Brege led the scoring attack with 12 while Hilla added 10.

Friday at Sault Ste Marie the Hurons kept it close at the end of the first quarter, trailing just 15-11 but the Blue Devils took over and never looked back defeating the Hurons 72-33. Brege again led the scoring attack with 12. The Hurons are at home against St. Ignace Friday for homecoming and will be at Alcona Tuesday.