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Making them count

Strong shooting night helps Mio defeat Hurons

News Photo by James Andersen Rogers City’s J.D. Ellenberger (20) puts up a shot during the first half of a boys basketball game on Monday at Rogers City High School. Surrounding Ellenberger are Rogers City teammates Drew Flewelling (40), Kaleb Budnick (32) and Matt Newhouse (22). Defending on the play for Mio are Brennon Mills (2), River Waisanen (11) and Brendan DeFlorio (3).

ROGERS CITY–The Rogers City boys basketball team did all it could, but the Hurons couldn’t quite keep pace with Mio on Monday.

Drew Hess scored 25 points and another strong shooting performance from long range helped the Thunderbolts defeat the Hurons 54-37 at Rogers City High School.

Mio drained six triples for the game and combined that with a relentless defensive effort to keep the Hurons on their toes. Mio (5-1, 3-1 North Star League) withstood a comeback effort by Rogers City (2-3, 1-3 NSL) in the third quarter and put the finishing touches on their latest win by outscoring the Hurons 12-4 in the fourth quarter.

“They’re a good team. They shot the ball really well from the three-point line; that’s what killed us. The extra chance points–that hurts,” Rogers City coach Matt Ponik said. “One of our main goals was to run them off the three-point line and not allow that to happen. They’re a good team. They’re very guard-oriented, but they’re a good team.”

Just four players scored for Mio on Monday, but it was more than enough to hold off the Hurons. In addition to Hess’ big night, River Waisanen had 14 points and Brennon Mills added 13.

Both teams matched each other’s defensive efforts in the first quarter and Mio led 17-8 after eight minutes. The Thunderbolts eventually took a 26-14 lead into halftime after the Hurons came up empty on some late second quarter possessions.

Hess was limited to just nine points in the first half, but Mio was very patient offensively and took its time waiting for opportunities to open up. When they did, the Thunderbolts took advantage, finding all the right seams in the Hurons’ defense to score from the long line, up close on jump shots or in the paint with drives in the lane.

They backed that up with an aggressive defensive effort that didn’t allow the Hurons many easy looks and limited them to single digits offensively in every quarter but one.

Ponik said his team made some adjustments to try to handle Mio’s defensive pressure better, but said it was one of the toughest defensive matchups his team has seen so far this season.

“I would say overall, yes. The switching, that caught us off guard. We made some adjustments to the switching, but the guys weren’t ready for it, the intensity,” Ponik said. “(Mio coach) Ty MacGregor runs a lot of intensity and I told them that’s going to happen. We’ve got to work better at that and we’ll do some things to get ourselves better prepared so we won’t run into that uncomfortable situation (again).”

The Hurons trailed by 12 at the break, but made some halftime adjustments and took the fight to the Thunderbolts in the third quarter. Despite Hess’ continued scoring success, Rogers City took advantage of some Mio miscues to cut the lead to nine twice. Kaleb Budnick gave Rogers City an early boost with five points in the first three minutes, including a three-point play with made it 33-22 with 5:22 left.

Later in the quarter, the Hurons got hot again. Luke Tulgestke converted a steal into a drive in the lane for a layup and on Rogers City’s next possession, Lewis Fleming ran almost the same play and scored, cutting the lead to 40-31 with 1:56 left. Fleming scored again with 59 seconds left, pulling the Hurons to within nine for the second time.

Ponik praised his team’s effort after the loss and said if the Hurons continue to play hard, success should follow.

“We made some adjustments and they did them very, very well. We have to be more focused to the game plan. When they do something, we have to be able to counter it within what we’re doing,” Ponik said. “Overall, I’m very proud of my guys to be honest with you. There’s not one game (where) I haven’t been proud of our effort.”

Any hopes for further rally efforts were dashed in the final eight minutes as Mio cranked up its defensive intensity and held the Hurons without a basket for nearly four minutes. A blocked pass attempt by Nick Freel, which he then took and scored with 3:37 remaining, proved to be Rogers City’s last basket of the evening.

Freel led Rogers City with 11 points, Budnick and J.D. Ellenberger had seven each and Matt Newhouse had six.

——

BOX SCORE: Field goals made/Free throws made/Free throws attempted/Total Points

MIO (54): D. Hess 11 1-1 25; R. Waisanen 4 4-4 14; B. Mills 5 1-1 13; B. DeFlorio 1 0-0 2.

ROGERS CITY (37): M. Newhouse 2 2-2 6; N. Freel 5 0-0 11; J. Ellenberger 3 1-4 7; K. Budnick 3 1-1 7; L. Tulgestke 1 0-1 2; L. Fleming 2 0-0 4.

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