BOYS BASKETBALL: Galindo scores 26 as Margaretta edges Huron

CASTALIA — Margaretta has a young team and needs youngsters to step up.

Sophomore Craig Galindo came up huge Friday, scoring six of his game-high 26 points during a 54-second burst early in the third quarter that lifted the Polar Bears to a 58-51 victory against Huron.

“Most people think Craig’s a 3-point shooter, but tonight he got in the lane and he finished,” Margaretta coach Troy Roth said. “He might have gone for 40 if I didn’t sit him for extended minutes in the second quarter.”

“He hit those big 3s when we were struggling, and that gave him confidence,” Roth said. “When he plays with confidence, he’s pretty good.”

The 6-foot guard hit a pair of treys to answer a Huron spurt that had cut the deficit to 38-30 midway through the third quarter. But two drives down the lane and a pair of free throws in the second minute of the fourth quarter turned a nail-biting 40-36 advantage into a comfortable 46-36 cushion.

“Our kids have to be smarter basketball players,” Tigers coach Bobby James said. “They have to know that kid was hot, and we had to find him and take care of it.

“Margaretta had a nice game plan and just outhustled us. They played better.”

Huron, which had senior starters Derek Dowell (back) in street clothes and Eric Volz (ankle) limited to a cameo appearance in the second quarter, could only get to within 48-40 the rest of the way as the Bears hit 10 of 14 free throws over the final five minutes of action.

“They had a couple of kids out so that wasn’t the same team that’s been winning a lot of games,” Roth said of Huron. “But for us to beat them, we’ll take it.

“After we lost four or five in a row during the season, we started talking about getting better for the tournaments. We have a young team with only four seniors and a lot of young guys playing a lot of minutes. We keep telling them to get better for the tournament for next year when we have eight guys coming back.”

Kyle Homerick chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds for Margaretta (6-8, 5-7), while Devin Jones pulled down 10 boards.

“It helped having Galindo shooting the way he did, but I thought Kyle Homerick had a nice game for us,” Roth said. “And everybody who played off the bench played well. I was very happy with the 10 or 11 kids who played.”

Zack Grieves had nine of his team-high 19 points in the final minute of action for the Tigers (9-7, 7-5), with Steve Bowers tossing in 12. Brandon Poorman had eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

“We didn’t play very hard in the first half,” James said. “For some reason, we’re just not clicking on the road right now, but Margaretta came out and played a nice game. They were physical and beat us to the boards. We didn’t make shots and we didn’t execute our offense.

“But Aaron (freshman Aaron Driftmeyer) was playing for me for the first time tonight and Trae (freshman Trae Graham) came in and played well. And Joe Ramey made his first start and played his butt off. I thought we really competed in the second half, we just ran out of gas.”

Huron posted a 47-37 win in the JV game with Nick Butler tossing in 10 and Kyle Pisano adding nine. 

Corey Kane had a game-high 14 for the Polar Bears.