News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Posen’s Eyan Hincka (40) drives baseline between Hillman defenders Isaac Morrison (20) and Brady Firman (4) during the fourth quarter of a North Star League-Little Dipper division game on Thursday at Hillman High School.

HILLMAN — The little things continue to haunt the Hillman boys basketball team.

The Tigers’ (3-4, 3-2 NSL-Little Dipper) inability to rebound and lack of offense once again hurt them in Thursday’s 51-42 loss against North Star League-Little Dipper division rival Posen.

Despite the struggles and giving up 17 unanswered points in the first quarter to fall behind by 14 four minutes of the game, Hillman did show signs of growth and improvement as it battled and nearly came back to stun the reigning district champion Vikings. The Tigers gained momentum early in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 40-38 with under six minutes to play.

The Vikings (6-2, 3-1 NSL-Little Dipper) called an audible and slowed the pace down after racing up and down the floor for three quarters and the adjustment paid off. Hillman was forced to foul and the Vikings cashed in at the free-throw line with all 11 of its fourth quarter points coming from the charity stripe.

“That’s kind of been our story, we come out fast and have an awkward lull in the middle of the game and we’re forced to put it back together in the second half and we’re really working on it,” Posen coach Chris Keller said. “This was our fourth road game in a row so we’re looking forward to getting back home, but games like this build character. I told the boys that without some of the guys on our team that didn’t get in tonight battling us in practice and teaching us how to play like this, we wouldn’t be able to grind these tight road games out. A win is a win and we have some things we can tighten up, but I’m proud that down the stretch when it mattered, they showed their poise and that was important.”

Hillman opened the game with a three from Sean Henigan and Posen responded with 17 straight to suck the air out of the Hillman crowd. Wyatt Romel hit three consecutive treys to put the Vikings ahead 11-3 and Posen continued to get easy baskets, forcing Hillman coach Eric Muszynski to call a timeout and let his team regroup.

The Tigers weathered the early storm and despite trailing by 11 points at halftime, Hillman came out with an intensity that was needed to get back into the game.

“The one thing I was most impressed with tonight was the fact that we didn’t pack it in when we fell behind early like we did Tuesday against Rogers City,” Muszynski said. “I think the kids are starting to realize it is a 32-minute game. The intensity in the second half was the most impressive thing tonight and getting back to what built our basketball program, diving on the floor, trying to get the loose balls, contesting everything and just being scrappy. We took off in the second half and it showed. Hats off to Posen, they did some good things in crunch time, but I thought we responded well tonight. We absorbed the blow early on and that’s varsity basketball. It’s a game of runs, unfortunately their run in the beginning was bigger than any of the runs we had, but I thought there were more positives tonight.”

The Tigers were forced to play catch up and early in the third and every time Hillman made a big shot, the Vikings responded with a big shot of their own to keep a double digit lead.

The Tigers finished the quarter strong and received a spark from sophomore Landen Timm, who scored six of his eight points in the third quarter to bring Hillman to within four with 1:12 remaining in the quarter.

“Landen Timm gave us a nice spark off the bench and we opened some things up off the drive and I thought we made great reads tonight and passing the ball around well today,” Muszynski said. “There was sometimes where we kept walking into their traps a little bit and kept the ball on the sideline more than I would have liked to and that’s favorable towards Posen’s defense, but all of that is part of the growth process.”

Eyan Hincka banked in a three to give the Vikings a 40-33 advantage heading into the final quarter, but once again the Tigers refused to go away quietly. Isaac Morrison began the final quarter with a bucket and Henigan rattled in another three to cut the lead 40-38 with 5:30 left as Keller called a timeout. It was as close as the Tigers got as Posen slowed the game down, limited possessions and cashed in on free-throw chances to close the game out.

“I told out kids that we can’t live and die by the three. We did hit a pile of them in the beginning of the game, but that’s barely out of character for us and I just told them during our last timeout that we have to be the veteran and more poise team,” Keller said. “We were only looking to score inside, we didn’t need to bomb a three, we were in the power position, we had the lead, despite it not being a big lead, but Hillman had to make a decision to foul us or let us take the ball out which is a tough decision to make. My strategy was we were going to let Hillman make the decision and luckily we came out on the right side of this one.”

Five players had all of Posen’s points as Cameron Paull led all scorers with 12 points, Romel and Lucas Stone each added 11 points, Hincka finished with nine and George Kroll chipped in with eight points.

Morrison paced Hillman with 10 points, Timm added eight and Henigan finished with seven points.

The Vikings will be back in action on Monday when they return home to host Mio.

Hillman will host Cedarville on Tuesday.

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

POSEN (51): W. Romel, 3 2-6 11; L. Stone, 4 2-5 11; G. Kroll, 3 0-0 8; C. Paull, 3 6-8 12; E. Hincka, 2 4-4 9.

HILLMAN (42): C. Hively, 2 0-0 4; B. Firman 2 0-0 6; S. Henigan, 2 1-2 7; L. Timm, 3 2-4 8; I. Morrison, 4 1-2 10; G. Mellingen, 1 0-0 2; N. Steinke, 2 0-0 5.