BOYS BASKETBALL:Huron wins ugly game against Perkins

Style points don’t count in basketball.

That’s probably a good thing for the Tigers, who survived a 12-minute stretch without scoring a field goal and still never relinquished the lead Wednesday in a 43-31 home victory against Perkins.

“In the first quarter, I thought we played pretty well defensively, but then both teams went cold and things got ugly,” said first-year Huron coach Bobby James “I’m proud of the way the kids fought through it and made shots and got stops when we needed them.”

The win left the Tigers perfect in three Sandusky Bay Conference games and 3-2 overall. It was also a win for James over his alma mater and a place he where he was a coach.

“Last year, we won four games and now we’re 3-0 in the conference and playing well,” James said. “It was just fun to coach against one of my best friends. I have so much respect for Scott (Perkins coach Scott McVeigh) and his program, but it is even more fun when you win.”

But before that, it got ugly.

A Steve Bowers layup with 7:27 left in the first half gave Huron a 19-5 lead, but that was the last field goal for the Tigers until a Brian Bollenbacher bucket with 5:23 left in the third quarter.

Huron’s lone score for the remainder of the second quarter was a Brandon Poorman free throw, and the hosts still led 20-14 at the half. Derek Dowell added a free throw at 5:23 of the third quarter that gave the Tigers a 21-16 advantage.

“Give Huron a lot of credit,” McVeigh said. “They came in a with a great game plan. We got easy looks and couldn’t knock them down and that’s what it boils down to.”

A pair of Josh Gerold free throw 30 seconds after the Dowell point closed the gap to 21-18 — the closest the Pirates would get o the lead on the evening — with Bollenbacher’s lay-up with 3:46 end ingthe field goal drought for the Tigers. Bollenbacher then added a put-back bucket and Zach Grieves nailed a trey with 3 seconds left in the quarter to give Huron control.

“We made a mistake at the end of the third quarter than ended with Grieves getting a good look and hitting it,” McVeigh said. “That was the game right there. That kind of typified the whole game for us.”

Grieves was the only player in the game to finish in double figures, scoring 17 points and grabbing six rebounds on a bad ankle, according to James.

“Zack has been so crucial for our success this year,” James said. “I couldn’t ask for a better senior player.”

Bollenbacher tossed in nine points, with a trey to open the scoring in the fourth quarter to give Huron a 31-21 advantage, while Dowell ended with eight points. Brandon Poorman had a team0high seven rebounds, leading the Tigers to a commanding 36-24 edge on the boards.

At the same time, Huron was just 13 of 40 from the floor.

“We didn’t execute the offense the way I want us to,” James said. “When we execute, we are a team that can score but when we do that one-on-one stuff and turn the ball over, it gets ugly.”

If Huron was cold shooting from the field, the Pirates were downright frigid. Perkins (2-4, 1-2) was 9 of 38 from the field, including just 4 of 22 from inside the arc.

“I don’t think either team shot the ball particularly well, especially us,” McVeigh said. “We knew they would slow it down. We knew they were going to limit possessions and only take the shots they wanted to take. But we didn’t play with any sense of urgency.”

Chris Baxter scored nine points and Michael Ebert added seven for Perkins. Ebert. Ebert also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Perkins picked up a 45-36 win in the jayvee contest with Tony Genter scoring a game-high 13 points. Aaron Driftmeyer led Huron with nine.