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Sports Editor: Marc Vieau | sports@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS (6397)

Thats a Relief

www.cadillacnews.com | weekend, march 8-9, 2014

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On Deck

marc vieau | cadillac news

Members of the Cadillac boys basketball team hold their Class B district trophy and manager Charlie Runstrom aloft after beating
Ogemaw Heights 52-47 in overtime Friday night.

Cadillac claims 4th straight district title with tight win over Ogemaw Heights
expectations and that means with 2:46 left.
It's been up-and-down seaa lot."
McDonald echoed Eming- son for Emington, who was
ton's sentiments about earn- on the varsity a sophomore
CADILLAC Just
last year, as well. He's still
ing this one.
enough.
got the shooter's mentality,
"I think we were relieved
That's all that matters.
though, of not
to find a way
Cadillac got just enough
getting down.
to come out on
to done to outlast Ogemaw
"I've always
Heights 52-47 in overtime in top," he said.
had the cona Class B district title game "As a group we
fidence," he
were struggling
Friday night at home.
said. "I keep
The win gives the Vikings to find any kind
losing my shot,
of rhythm or
(16-6 overall) their fourth
though, but then
confidence and
straight district title and
it comes back
you have to give
that's the first time that's
sometimes."
Ogemaw Heights Jeff McDonald
been done in program hisOgemaw cut
some of the
tory. More importantly, it
Cadillac boys basketball coach
it back to 41-39
sends Cadillac into regional credit for that.
n
with 2:20 left and
semifinal play Monday night They're athletic,
tied it at 41-41 on a jumper
had a good game plan and
at Petoskey High School
by Ben Hartley with 1:04 rehad a few matchups where
against Escanaba.
their kids were quicker than maining.
The Eskymos (17-5) beat
Cadillac took a 43-41 lead
ours."
Menominee 48-46 to win
on a layup by Justin Liptak
Cadillac led 31-28 going
their district. Monday's tipbut Hartley struck again
into the fourth quarter and
off time is 6 p.m.
with a sweet jumper coming
it was tight the whole way.
Before then, though,
A steal by Cadillac's Evan off a screen with 6.6 seconds
Cadillac gets a chance to
remaining to re-tie the game
Ferritto led to a three-point
at least exhale, something
43-43 and force overtime.
play to make it 35-30 with
the Vikings or their fans
The Falcons got the first
5:39 left but the Falcons
could do very little of
bucket of OT to go up 45cut it back to 35-34 quickly
against a pesky Ogemaw
43 but Cadillac responded
and then went up 37-34 on
Heights team on Friday.
quickly with a reverse layup
a 3-pointer by Dillon Zettel
"We're happy with the outby Liptak and a pull-up jumpcome but we're not happy with with 4:30 remaining.
A three-point play by Em- er by Emington to make it 47the way we played," Cadillac
ington put the Vikings back 45 with 1:52 remaining.
junior guard Andrew Eming"No one was on me and so
ton said. "I'm relieved we won. on top 38-37 with 3:28 to go
and he followed that up with I just pulled up for the shot,"
"Coach Mac had it on the
Emington said. "I made that
board that tradition creates a 3-pointer to make it 41-37
by marc vieau
cadillac news

I think we were
relieved to find a
way to come out
on top.

McBain is
preparing
to take on
familiar foe
St. Ignace
in a Class
C state
quarterfinal
girls
basketball
contest.
Get the full
preview.
MONDAY

Beavers
beat the
Bucks
cadillac news

akron 58
kent state
54

The next
step:

RED WINGS B2
PISTONS B2
TIGERS B2
AUTO RACING B3
PREP SPORTS B4
SCOREBOARD B4

shot the last game so I had

the confidence to do it again."
McDonald said Cadillac's
answer of Ogemaw in OT
was huge.
"They scored first in OT
and that's a real big boost
when you do that," McDonald said. "We answered right
away and that was big.
"Then we were able to
get a lead but could never
stretch it out."
The Vikings got a little
more breathing room on a
driving layup by Brooks that
made it 49-45 with 43 seconds left and a pair of free
throws sealed it.
Emington paced Cadillac
with 15 points while Liptak
had 12 points and eight rebounds. Brooks scored 10
points, seven rebounds and
three assists. Ferritto added
six points.
"Andrew hit some big shots
for us down the stretch and
Jalen had a bit shot in overtime," McDonald said. "Evan
came up big, too, for us because his hands were all over
the place and he created a lot
of havoc out there tonight.
"Cody (Lux) and Tanner
(Derror) hit big shots, too.
Andy production you get off
the bench in a tight game is
huge.

BEAVERTON Mama
said there would be days
like this.
Unfortunately, that day
came at the wrong time for
the Pine River boys' basketball team.
The Bucks struggled with
their execution and shooting in a 55-46 loss to Beaverton in a Class C district title
game Friday night.
Pine River shot 25 percent from beyond the arc
and 32 percent from the
field for a 29 percent average from the floor. The
Bucks struggled at the freethrow line, too, hitting just
9 of 20 shots.
"Shooting like that doesn't
get it done at this time of
the year," Pine River coach
Brian Goodenow said. "I
will praise our effort because that wasn't lacking.
"We just didn't execute
very well in some areas
and some of that is on me.
I give my guys a lot of freedom to play basketball but
when the shots aren't falling, we need to reign that
in and run some plays. I
was a little slow on making
that adjustment."
Pine River led 14-11 after
the first quarter and it was
tied 26-26 at halftime. The
Beavers went up 41-38 going
into the fourth quarter and
their hit their shots down
the stretch to secure the
game and the district title.
Skyler Nelson paced
Pine River with 20 points,
seven rebounds and two
blocks while Lucas Harris
added 16 points and nine
rebounds.
Brandon Hoaglund had
six rebounds and three
assists while Mitchell McDonald added six rebounds
and five assists.
Despite the loss, the
Bucks had another strong
season at 19-3 overall with
their second straight Highland Conference title.
"My heart breaks for our
seniors," Goodenow said.
"They've done a lot for our
program and we've made
some huge strides in the
last couple of years under
them.
"I thank them so much
for that."
Beaverton advances to
regional semifinal play on
Monday at Traverse City
St. Francis High School
against Mio.

Manton rally falls short vs. St. Francis

Down one with 40 seconds
Gladiators hold off
Rangers for district title to go, I would take what we
cadillac news

MANTON Oh, so close.

So close to a huge win and a district championship to boot.
Manton rallied from a doubledigit second-half deficit only to fall
to Traverse City St. Francis 54-51 in
a Class C district title game Friday
night at home.
The Rangers were down one point
with 40 seconds remaining before
the Gladiators hit a shot to go up
three.
Manton had a good look after that
but could never tie it up.
"Down one with 40 seconds to go,
I would take what we had any day
of the week against them," Manton
coach Ryan Hiller said.
"My kids played their hearts out
and it was a great atmosphere.
"That place was rocking like I
haven't seen it before."
St. Francis gives you matchup
problems all over the floor with its
size and shooting ability.
Add to that it's pressure defense
and the Gladiators can score in
spurts.

had any day of the week

against them.
Ryan Hiller
Manton boys basketball coach
n

Hiller planned to counter that by

slowing the game down and working for good shots.
"We played a great first quarter,"
he said.
"We wanted to slow them down
and we did that. We did a good job,
too, of breaking their press and
even when we didn't, the turnovers
didn't result in easy layups."
St. Francis led 9-8 after the first
quarter and stretched that to 30-19
at halftime.
The Gladiators went up by as many as 16 points in the third quarter
before Manton began to rally.
"We called a time out and switched
what we were doing on them," Hiller
said. "It was tight the rest of the
way."
Manton was down 43-38 after thee
quarters.

The Rangers got big shots from

Chandler Shazri and Matt Skiver,
along with a reverse layup by sophomore big man Tyler Swing to cut the
deficit to just one.
"We just kept chipping away at it,"
Hiller said. "We shot 70 percent from
the free-throw line, too, and that really helped us."
Freshman Wyatt Baker paced
Manton with 23 points and nine
rebounds while Swing had seven
points and Shazri added six.
For a team that features a lot of
young talent and more on the
way this season was a big step
but Hiller said it couldn't have been
done without the seniors.
"Hats off to my seniors they
were such team players for letting
underclassmen come in and have
the big roles," he said.
"Not a lot of teams can do that."
St. Francis (12-11 overall) advances to regional play at home Monday
against East Jordan.
Mio and Beaverton are in the
other half of the bracket.

Manton sophomore Tyler Swing looks to

shoot against the defense of Traverse City
St. Francis Tanner Kenney during Fridays
Class C district title game. The Gladiators
beat the Rangers 54-51.

marc vieau | cadillac news