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Corbin’s near triple-double lifts Atlanta to victory

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Atlanta’s Austin Corbin (40) tries to avoid Harbor Light defenders Isaac Graham (13) and James Kersting (14) as he goes up for a shot during the first quarter of a boys basketball game on Tuesday at Atlanta High School.

ATLANTA — Austin Corbin put together the best game of his career on Tuesday as he posted a near triple-double, pouring in a game high 35 points to go along with nine rebounds and nine steals while leading his Atlanta Huskies to a 69-50 home victory over Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian.

“Austin has been a very good player for us and I’ve known that for a while now. It’s taken him a little bit to accept a bigger role on our team and for him to realize that he can do a lot of things that others can’t. It was good to see him have this type of game,” Atlanta coach Kevin Haren said.

The Huskies got off to a slow start early in the first quarter as Harbor Light opened the game scoring the first six points and forced Haren to take an early timeout.

Atlanta woke up after the timeout and started to heat up as it went on a 9-0 late in the quarter to take a 15-12 lead with under two minutes to play.

Isaac Graham hit a three-pointer as the first quarter buzzer went off to help the Swordsmen tie the game at 17 at the end of one.

The Huskies put together a solid second quarter and shot a high percentage throughout the first half. Atlanta scored six of the first eight points of the quarter to open up a 25-19 lead and it was able to to hold onto the lead for the rest of the half, taking a 36-31 lead into the break.

“We started a little slow early on, but then we started to turn it on towards the end of the first quarter and we just didn’t quit from there,” Haren said. “The intensity that we’ve had has been great and it started with out last win against Wolverine. That kind of sparked us a little bit and we played well tonight and we’ve been able to build some momentum as of late.”

As efficient as the Huskies were on offense in the first half, they played even better defense in the third quarter as they opened on a 7-0 run and held Harbor Light scoreless for over five minutes to take a 43-31 lead.

The third quarter proved to be the difference as Atlanta outscored the Swordsmen 13-4 in the quarter and gained even more momentum as Tanner Sayles collected a loose ball and banked in a shot to beat the buzzer to give the Huskies a 49-35 lead.

“Our defensive pressure really turned up and we played a full court man. Our guys really accepted the challenge of playing man-to-man and that led to a lot of fast break points for us,” Haren said.

After pulling away in the third quarter, Corbin put the finishing touches on his career night by scoring 14 fourth quarter points to help the Huskies run away with a convincing 19 point victory.

Along with Corbin, Reece Wood was the only other Atlanta player to score double figures as he ended the game with 11 points.

Harbor Light was led by James Kersting who had a monster game of his own, recording a double-double with 20 points and 20 rebounds. Graham added nine points and Nathan Schiel chipped in with eight points in the losing effort.

Atlanta improves to 4-14 overall on the year and will wrap up its regular season on Friday when it hosts Mio.

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ATLANTA (69): E. Reene, 1 0-0 3; N. Byarski, 2 2-2 7; A. Corbin, 15 5-7 35; R. Wood, 5 1-2 11; T. Sayles, 2 2-2 6.

HARBOR LIGHT (50): J. Walker, 2 0-0 4; I. Graham, 3 0-2 9; J. Kersting, 7 6-8 20; S. Wallace, 1 0-0 2; N. Rhudy, 1 0-0 3; N. Schiel, 3 2-3 8; S. Fettig, 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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