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A valiant effort

Hillman falls to Powers North Central in quarterfinals

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Hillman's Brandon Banks (20) takes a contested shot during the fourth quarter.

SAULT STE. MARIE –The Hillman boys basketball team did all it could in Tuesday’s Class D quarterfinal game against Powers North Central, but in the end, the Tigers were the 81st victim in a row as North Central held off a late Hillman rally to advance to the Breslin Center for the third consecutive year after beating the Tigers 74-61.

“One thing we did was see how they handled our pressure and Powers is a talented team that have been to a third straight quarterfinal and I’ve been coaching basketball for 12 years and I haven’t seen a team so smooth in transition,” Hillman coach Eric Muszynski said. “I give credit to my guys, they battled and never quit and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”

It looked as if North Central (26-0) was going to run away with it early in the fourth quarter as it opened up a 15 point lead, but the Tigers wouldn’t go away.

Despite trailing by double digits throughout the first five minutes of the quarter, Hillman (24-2) continued to chip away as Brandon Banks and Jared Juergens hit back-to-back threes to send the Tiger faithful into a frenzy and cut the North Central lead to 60-54 with 3:08 left to play.

Once again, the Jets answered in a devastating way as Marcus Krachinski hit a three and North Central forced a Hillman turnover and got the ball to Jason Whitens who attacked the basket to score a layup and go over 2,000 points in his career and put the Jets up 65-54 with 2:06 left.

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Powers North Central's Jason Whitens (30) makes a shot while being defended by Hillman's Kory Henigan (40) and Chris Wittman (34) in the quarterfinal game at Sault Saint Marrie High School on Tuesday.

“That was huge. We were clawing back and we let one of their guys get loose and that’s what they do to you,” Muszynski said. “It wasn’t the nail in the coffin, but it made it difficult to come back from. I’m proud of our team and our town for everything we accomplished this season.”

Hillman was unable to respond and the Jets were able to convert on free throws late to put the game away and advance to East Lansing for the third straight year.

North Central was led by Whitens who poured in a game high 29 points. Krachinski added 20 points and Dawson Bilski chipped in with 11 points.

“Our seniors stepped up big late and that’s the way to respond,” Powers coach Adam Mercier said. “We’re playing with house money and we’re going in with the attitude that we’re the underdog from a small school up north traveling back down to the Breslin Center.”

Banks led the Tigers with 22 points. Gunnar Libby ended his high school career with 14 points and Kory Henigan added 11 points.

Hillman opened the game with a three by Andrew Funk, but the Jets answered as Bilski hit a three of his own. Banks scored on the Tigers’ next possession as Hillman showed no signs of backing down early, but North Central found its rhythm and went on a 15-4 run to take a nine point lead and force Muszynski to call a timeout with 2:34 left in the quarter as Whitens was a force early in the paint and scored an efficient 10 first quarter points while missing just one shot in the first which was a half court heave that just rattled out.

The Tigers responded out of the timeout as Banks put on a show, scoring seven of the next nine points to close out the quarter and help Hillman cut the Jets lead to 20-16 after one.

North Central quickly changed the momentum of the game early in the second quarter as they opened on a 9-2 run to take a double digit lead and force the Tigers to call another timeout.

Once again Hillman fired back after the timeout as they went on a 11-3 run and trailed 34-29 at the half.

“I thought it was a gritty performance. Hillman brought a lot of pressure early on and they were hyped up, but we just had to sustain that wave early,” Mercier said. “With Hillman you’re never comfortable with any lead because they’re a lot like us, they’re a team of runs, but fortunately our defense picked up later in the game.”

The third quarter belonged to North Central as they clamped down defensively and opened the third quarter with the first six points while holding the Tigers scoreless for nearly four minutes and outscored Hillman 12-4 in what was a low scoring quarter and the Jets held a 46-33 lead after three quarters.

Hillman ends a record breaking season with a school record 24 wins and will return a handful of talented players to next year’s team.

“It was another banner year here. We made a heck of a run and for our young guys to gain experience and our seniors that passed the torch, this is just how our program is,” Muszynski said. “The future is bright with our youth program on up. We bring a lot of talent back next year and we’ll do our best to try and get back to this level.”

——

POWERS NORTH CENTRAL (74) – S. Polfus, 1 0-1 2; M. Krachinski, 8 2-2 20; L. Dombrowski, 2 0-0 4; J. Whitens, 13 3-5 29; D. Bilski, 4 0-0 11; B. Kleiman, 4 0-0 8.

HILLMAN (61) – A. Funk, 1 0-0 3; B. Kolcan, 1 0-0 2; B. Banks, 8 1-2 22; C. Wittman, 1 0-0 2; G. Libby, 4 4-5 14; J. Juergens, 2 0-0 5; K. Henigan, 4 3-3 11; M. Hunt, 1 0-0 2.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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