30°BOYS' BASKETBALL - Plymouth holds off Huron for district semifinal win
11:37 AM
Mar 11
2010
Mar 11
2010
BY DON HOHLER
Reflector Sportswriter
news@norwalkreflector.com
MANSFIELD – “Mix it up boys” was what NASCAR officials told their drivers at the start of the season.
Officials in Wednesday night’s Division III district semi-final boys’ basketball game between undefeated Plymouth (22-0) and Huron (14-9) at Mansfield Senior High School must have felt the same way because there were no holds barred in a game that saw the Firelands Conference champions land the last punch of a 57-55 victory.
The exact time of the finals (1 or 7 p.m.) Saturday against Ontario, a 56-49 winner in the second game, at Mansfield will be announced depending how the Plymouth girls fare in tonight’s Division IV regional semifinal.
The game was hotly-contested throughout. The game plan for Plymouth obvious — keep the ball in the hands of All-Ohio player Brook Turson.
And that’s just what happened. Turson’s eight foul shots in the final quarter kept fending off the perimeter shooting Tigers, but it still took his splitting a pair twice in the final seconds to bump his team up to a four-point lead and making Brian Bollenbacher’s uncontested layup at the buzzer meaningless.
Plymouth coach Brad Turson believed the style was what his team needed if it is going to continue to successfully compete in post-season play.
“Players and fans have to realize that officials are not going to make those touch calls when teams gets this far in the tournament,” Turson said. “We were very fortunate in facing four teams in the last month that played like Huron did.
“I expected this and I told the kids if they were to compete, they had better be able to take it as well as dish it out,’’ the coach added. “St. Paul came at us in that fashion. So did Western. And Crestview did the same twice. The problem is you don’t get enough games like this during the season. My kids responded well though and that’s the reason we are still standing.”
Free throws were not exactly the order of the day throughout the game, however. Turson shot two, making one for the opening point of the game. Neither team shot one the rest of the first, all of the second and all of the third.
Huron shot its first with 6:25 left in the game and made 4-of-5 in the final quarter. Plymouth was 13-of-18 for the game, including 12 in the final quarter.
Turson had 10 and Alex Mowry two with 1:41 left. Andy Hale had the only Plymouth field goal in the final period. But, Plymouth took just three shots.
What it didn’t count on, however, was Huron was going to fire with that kind of efficiency from long range. Zach Grieves and Bollenbacher combined for four, three-point shots in the final period and 16 of Huron’s 20 in the final eight minutes.
Huron ate up six of that eight-point margin in the first three minutes of the quarter and had the ball on the next possession with a shot at tying it. But, their hot hand cooled just enough in making just 4-of-11 down the stretch.
Even at that, the Tigers got the game tied at 53-all on a 12-foot Bollenbacher runner with 45 seconds left.
Plymouth’s strategy remained the same, however — know where Turson was.
His two free throws with 41 seconds left got them the lead back. Then, after a Huron turnover, its eighth of the game, Turson was again fouled. He split a pair. Huron put up a three ball that Turson rebounded in a prone position. He was fouled with 5.8 seconds left and again split the pair, making it a four-point game.
“I had been shooting fairly well from the line of late and felt confident but sometimes you just miss,’’ Turson said of his missed free throws. I didn’t play very well in the end, losing control of that ball late. But, the guys look to me to take control and if they have that kind of faith in me, I certainly will give it my best shot.”
Turson finished with 28 points, making 7-of-15 from the field including a difference-making first half triple at the buzzer from 28 feet.
Brandon McCalley, who took a charge from Steve Bowers in the second quarter that put him down for the better part of five minutes, came back to score 12 points and grab 10 of his team’s 24 rebounds.
Bollenbacher had 26 points and teamed with Grieves for 12 of Huron’s 28 rebounds. The Tigers were 21-of-50 from the floor to Plymouth 19-of-45.
Plymouth turned the ball over just six times.
Boxscore
Plymouth 57
Turson 7-11-28, McKenzie 2-2-6, McCalley 6-0-12, Mowry 0-2-2, Reinhart 2-0-4, Hale 2-0-5. Totals 19-13-57.
Huron 55
Grieves 3-0-9, Bollenbacher 10-0-26, Ramey 1-0-2, Bowers 2-2-6, Poorman 3-0-6, Dowell 2-2-6. Totals 21-4-55.
Plymouth 10 16 17 14 — 57
Huron 14 9 12 20 — 55
Reflector Sportswriter
news@norwalkreflector.com
MANSFIELD – “Mix it up boys” was what NASCAR officials told their drivers at the start of the season.
Officials in Wednesday night’s Division III district semi-final boys’ basketball game between undefeated Plymouth (22-0) and Huron (14-9) at Mansfield Senior High School must have felt the same way because there were no holds barred in a game that saw the Firelands Conference champions land the last punch of a 57-55 victory.
The exact time of the finals (1 or 7 p.m.) Saturday against Ontario, a 56-49 winner in the second game, at Mansfield will be announced depending how the Plymouth girls fare in tonight’s Division IV regional semifinal.
The game was hotly-contested throughout. The game plan for Plymouth obvious — keep the ball in the hands of All-Ohio player Brook Turson.
And that’s just what happened. Turson’s eight foul shots in the final quarter kept fending off the perimeter shooting Tigers, but it still took his splitting a pair twice in the final seconds to bump his team up to a four-point lead and making Brian Bollenbacher’s uncontested layup at the buzzer meaningless.
Plymouth coach Brad Turson believed the style was what his team needed if it is going to continue to successfully compete in post-season play.
“Players and fans have to realize that officials are not going to make those touch calls when teams gets this far in the tournament,” Turson said. “We were very fortunate in facing four teams in the last month that played like Huron did.
“I expected this and I told the kids if they were to compete, they had better be able to take it as well as dish it out,’’ the coach added. “St. Paul came at us in that fashion. So did Western. And Crestview did the same twice. The problem is you don’t get enough games like this during the season. My kids responded well though and that’s the reason we are still standing.”
Free throws were not exactly the order of the day throughout the game, however. Turson shot two, making one for the opening point of the game. Neither team shot one the rest of the first, all of the second and all of the third.
Huron shot its first with 6:25 left in the game and made 4-of-5 in the final quarter. Plymouth was 13-of-18 for the game, including 12 in the final quarter.
Turson had 10 and Alex Mowry two with 1:41 left. Andy Hale had the only Plymouth field goal in the final period. But, Plymouth took just three shots.
What it didn’t count on, however, was Huron was going to fire with that kind of efficiency from long range. Zach Grieves and Bollenbacher combined for four, three-point shots in the final period and 16 of Huron’s 20 in the final eight minutes.
Huron ate up six of that eight-point margin in the first three minutes of the quarter and had the ball on the next possession with a shot at tying it. But, their hot hand cooled just enough in making just 4-of-11 down the stretch.
Even at that, the Tigers got the game tied at 53-all on a 12-foot Bollenbacher runner with 45 seconds left.
Plymouth’s strategy remained the same, however — know where Turson was.
His two free throws with 41 seconds left got them the lead back. Then, after a Huron turnover, its eighth of the game, Turson was again fouled. He split a pair. Huron put up a three ball that Turson rebounded in a prone position. He was fouled with 5.8 seconds left and again split the pair, making it a four-point game.
“I had been shooting fairly well from the line of late and felt confident but sometimes you just miss,’’ Turson said of his missed free throws. I didn’t play very well in the end, losing control of that ball late. But, the guys look to me to take control and if they have that kind of faith in me, I certainly will give it my best shot.”
Turson finished with 28 points, making 7-of-15 from the field including a difference-making first half triple at the buzzer from 28 feet.
Brandon McCalley, who took a charge from Steve Bowers in the second quarter that put him down for the better part of five minutes, came back to score 12 points and grab 10 of his team’s 24 rebounds.
Bollenbacher had 26 points and teamed with Grieves for 12 of Huron’s 28 rebounds. The Tigers were 21-of-50 from the floor to Plymouth 19-of-45.
Plymouth turned the ball over just six times.
Boxscore
Plymouth 57
Turson 7-11-28, McKenzie 2-2-6, McCalley 6-0-12, Mowry 0-2-2, Reinhart 2-0-4, Hale 2-0-5. Totals 19-13-57.
Huron 55
Grieves 3-0-9, Bollenbacher 10-0-26, Ramey 1-0-2, Bowers 2-2-6, Poorman 3-0-6, Dowell 2-2-6. Totals 21-4-55.
Plymouth 10 16 17 14 — 57
Huron 14 9 12 20 — 55
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