BOYS BASKETBALL: Fourth quarter surge lifts Huron past St. Paul

For more than 22 minutes, Huron looked like the team that had just eight practices and one game under its belt, not St. Paul.

But basketball conditioning kicked in for the Tigers over the final 10 minutes, outscoring the Flyers by a 27-9 margin in a 45-40 victory Monday night at Huron High School.

“The last couple of years, we would have lost a game like that,” first-year Huron coach Bobby James said. “Somehow, our kids are starting to believe in themselves and are finding ways to win games they shouldn’t.

“I think that’s a tribute to the kids’ confidence.”

Conditioning also helped as St. Paul got off to a late start because of a Division VI state football championship.

“Certainly we’re not in basketball shape, but the kids are working hard with intensity,” Flyers coach Mike Smith said. “The key was they were able to get some touches underneath in the third and fourth quarters and were didn’t get the chance to get out into transition. Offensively, we had some good looks, but we didn’t knock down the shots.”

St. Paul (1-1) couldn’t miss early, bolting out to a 17-7 lead at the end of one quarter and pulling out to a 31-18 advantage on a pair of free throws from Justin Wilde with 2:38 remaining in the third quarter.

The Tigers (4-2) finished the period on a 6-1 spurt, then scored the first six points of the fourth to close to within 32-30 with 5:20 remaining.

It took almost four more minutes before Brian Bollenbacher hit a bucket and a foul shot to give Huron a 41-39. Those three points were part of a nine straight points that put Huron in front to stay.

“Our guys made some nice plays at the end, that’s the bottom line,” James said.

Steve Bowers had 14 points and Bollenbacher added 11 to lead Huron, which honored its Division III state championship volleyball team along with the St. Paul state championship football squad and the Flyers’ Division IV state runner-up volleyball team in between games.

Bowers, Brandon Poorman and Derek Dowell all had five rebounds, helping the Tigers overcome a 15-10 deficit on the boards at the half for a 33-31 advantage at the end of the game. Huron also stepped up the defensive pressure, forcing 10 second-half turnovers by the Flyers.

“Our offense is behind, but for eight practices I’m happy,” Smith said. “And I’m happy giving up 45 points to these guys with their size advantage..”

Darren Smith had 13 points and six rebounds to lead St. Paul, with Wilde scoring 10 points and Eric Schwieterman adding nine points and a game-high seven boards.

“I remember being at Perkins in 1999 for their state football championship,” James said. “We thought we had a pretty good basketball team and ended up something like 10-10. St. Paul is going to be a good team and is definitely headed in the right direction. They were outrebounding us and didn’t have a guy over 6-1.

“Man, are those guys athletes.”

Huron also won the jayvee game as freshmen Trae Graham and Aaron Driftmeyer each scored 13 in the 37-26 victory. Kurt Walliser had nine to lead St. Paul.