News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Rogers City’s Drew Flewelling (40) defends a shot attempt from Mio’s Brennon Mills during the second quarter of a North Star League Big-Dipper division boys basketball game on Tuesday at Rogers City High School.

ROGERS CITY — Tuesday’s North Star League Big-Dipper division contest against Mio will be one the Rogers City boys basketball team looks back on as a signature moment in what could end up being a special season.

After starting the season 1-4 and unsure of what to expect out of a team featuring new players, the Hurons (9-4, 4-2 NSL Big-Dipper) have since played as one of the top teams in the area. Rogers City has won eight of its last nine games, including a signature win over Mio (9-3, 3-3 NSL Big-Dipper) Tuesday at Rogers City High School by the score of 57-52.

“There’s a lot of youth on this team and all of these younger guys are starting to step up now. We have a lot of juniors that didn’t get a lot of varsity time last year and it was a lot of learning and now they’re thrust into these games and we haven’t been in many of these kind of games, Mio has and for us to be able to execute in the end was special,” Rogers City coach Matt Ponik said. “I was nervous. When you’re not in these situations, how are you going to react? We were down, then we were up and things got close and there was nervousness in the guys’ eyes and I just told them during the final timeout to go out there and execute and expect to win, not hope to win. There was no X’s and O’s, it was expect to win. Go out and show that you guys can do this and they did.”

After a back-and-forth opening quarter which featured eight lead changes, the Hurons went cold in the second quarter and the veteran Thunderbolts took advantage and held what appeared to be a comfortable 32-19 halftime lead.

Mio’s third quarter was far from comfortable though as the Hurons put together their best quarter of the season. They scored 11 of the first 14 points of the quarter to cut the lead to five midway through the third. Rogers City finished strong, cutting the lead to 37-35 after holding Mio to just five points in the quarter.

The Hurons were led by junior Nick Freel, who scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the third to continue his streak of 20 points to six straight games.

“It was a total team effort. I’m really proud of them and there is nothing else I can say, I’m just extremely proud where they have come from and where we’re going,” Ponik said. “Nick (Freel) is scoring the points and I knew he would, but it’s his defense, rebounding and toughness that’s come a long way. Before he was getting pushed around, now he’s pushing back and finishing.”

The Hurons took the momentum they gained after a strong third quarter right into the fourth. Cameron Streich hit a three on Rogers City’s first possession to give the home team its first lead since the late stages of the opening quarter.

The Hurons continued to find ways to score as they began the fourth with 10 unanswered points to take a 45-37 lead after J.D. Ellenberger made a pair of shots and Freel buried a triple.

“Our third quarter allowed us to get even with them and then we eventually took the lead. We were doing the right things, we weren’t turning the ball over, we were making the extra pass, rotating well, guys were going up strong and I think we had Mio on their heels a little bit,” Ponik said. “Typically we have been the team back on our heels against our opponents instead of putting pressure on. Mio is a great team, there’s no doubt about it, they are going to make a long run, but our guys came out hard in that second half and that second half was probably the best second half I’ve had a team play in my coaching career.”

After holding the Thunderbolts to five points in the third quarter, Rogers City held Mio scoreless through the first four and a half minutes of the fourth and took an eight point lead and seemed to be in control up 50-42 with 2:31 left to play.

But nothing came easy for the Hurons down the stretch. With two minutes left to play, the Thunderbolts stormed back to cut into the lead. Mio junior Drew Hess willed his team back by scoring nine of his 13 points in the final two minutes of the game.

One of the keys for Rogers City down the stretch and one of the signs of a good team is free-throw shooting and the Hurons were able to rely on their work at the stripe to close out the game.

Rogers City was 12-of-14 from the line in the fourth quarter as Streich was clutch, going 7-of-8 in the final minutes to preserve the Huron lead.

Hess hit a three with 1:31 left to play and the Hurons were called for an offensive charge on the ensuing possession. The ball was once again put in Hess’ hands and he was fouled and converted both free-throws to cut the lead to 54-52 with 33 seconds left.

Streich split a pair of free-throws with 14 seconds to give Rogers City a 55-52 lead before the Thunderbolts dribbled down the floor and called a timeout.

With 10 seconds left, Mio threw the inbound pass away and turned the ball back over to the Hurons who were ready to celebrate, but Rogers City was called for traveling on the inbound and gave the ball right back to Mio.

Once again, the Thunderbolts put the ball in the hands of their star, but Hess was unable to convert and Ellenberger corralled the rebound, was fouled and put the game away sinking two free-throws to propel Rogers City to one of its biggest victories since Ponik took over as head man.

“I’m ecstatic. It’s a huge win for us, it’s a huge morale boost,” Ponik said. “I think a win like this can really propel us and it gives us a boost moving forward.”

Rogers City will look to build on its signature win and recent success when they face another big challenge on Friday as the Hurons travel to unbeaten Oscoda.

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

ROGERS CITY (57): N. Freel, 6 8-9 20; C. Streich, 2 9-10 14; J. Fleming, 1 0-0 2; J. Ellenberger, 4 5-6 13; L. Fleming, 2 0-0 4; D. Flewelling, 2 0-0 4.

MIO (52): B. Mills, 5 0-2 13; B. Deflorio, 2 0-0 4; R. Vinfeld, 5 1-2 14; D. Hess, 5 3-4 13; M. Hurst, 1 1-2 4.