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Survival Skills
Sports Editor: Marc Vieau | sports@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS

www.cadillacnews.com | thursday, march 12, 2015

Filling
a huge
hole

mcbain 73
pine river
64
manton 62
lake city
15

By NOAH TRISTER
the associated press

b.r. crossroads 58
marion 41

m.p. sacred hrt 71

mcbain nmc
56

frankfort 71
buckley 53

onekama 56
mesick 28

On Deck

marc vieau | cadillac news

McBain senior Tyler Sterk and Pine River senior Mitch McDonald battle for a loose ball during a Class C district contest Wednesday night. The
Ramblers beat the Bucks 73-64.

Tourney
time:

Michigan
tries to make
some noise
in the Big
Ten tourney
after a rough
regular
season when
it meets
Illinois today.
Get the
details.
FRIDAY
Sports History
On this date:
1966 Chicagos
Bobby Hull scores
his 51st goal to become the first NHL
player to score
more than 50
goals in a season.
1970 Austin Carr
scores 52 points to
lead Notre Dame
in a 112-82 win
over Kentucky
in the regional
semifinals of the
NCAA mens tournament.
2002 Siena (1718) with an 81-77
victory over Alcorn State in the
play-in game, becomes first team
in 47 years to win
an NCAA mens
basketball tournament game with a
losing record.

PREP HOOPS B2
TIGERS NEWS B2
NASCAR PAGE B3
SPORTS BRIEFS B4
SCOREBOARD B4

McBain gets the job done, beats Pine River in Class C district
by marc vieau
cadillac news

MCBAIN Win and advance.

It's really that simple.
Still, the perfectionist
coach wanted more.
More as in better ball control late in the game when
trying to close it out.
More as in closing out on
open three-point shooters.
Yet, it's still win and advance.
McBain did just that as
it beat Pine River 73-64 in a
hotly-contested Class C boys
basketball district contest
Wednesday night at home.
The Ramblers (19-2 overall) host Manton in Friday's
title game at 7 p.m. The
Rangers (16-5) beat Lake
City 62-15 in Wednesday's
second game.
The victory left veteran
McBain coach Bruce Koopman shaking his head a little
bit, especially when it came
to some of the decisions his
team made late in the game.
"I'd rather win ugly than
lose pretty," Koopman
laughed. "We did enough
good things to win tonight.
Had we lost the game, I
would've said we didn't do
enough good things to be
able to win."
Those good things included a huge advantage in the
post and on the boards as
McBain's size was too much
for Pine River to handle.
Add in a couple of gimmick defenses aimed at
slowing down Pine River
standouts Mitch McDonald
and Lucas Harris and it
was still a good night for the
Ramblers.
"I thought all of the guys

that played did a good job,"

Koopman said. "and all of
the guys that played did
things that made me want to
shoot myself."
McBain led 39-35 after a
hot-shooting first half by
both teams. The Ramblers
began stretching the lead,
though, in the third quarter
to take control of the game.
A layup by Jordan Vanderhoef made it 45-35 just 1:19
into the third quarter before a layup by Cole Powell
stretched it to 54-43 with 3:12
remaining.
A sequence a couple of
minutes later defined the
night, though. With the
Bucks making a run after a
Greg Park 3-pointer cut it to
just 56-51 with about two minutes left, Pine River thought
it had a basket the next time
down that would have cut the
deficit to just three points.
Instead, it was ruled that
the Pine River player touched
the ball in the cylinder and
the bucket was waived off for
basket interference.
On the other end, McBain
got a 3-pointer in the corner
from Logan Eling to make it
59-51, another triple by Powell and a putback by Craig
Sterk with 3 seconds to go
that made it 64-51 headed
into the fourth quarter.
"That tip-in that went
against us really hurt," Pine
River coach Brian Goodenow said. "They closed the
quarter with a big run and
got all the momentum.
"Momentum is such a big
thing in basketball."
Pine River hung around
thanks in part to the shooting
of Park and Harris, especially in the first half. McBain
went to a triangle-and-two

marc vieau | cadillac news

McBains Cole Powell puts up a shot against Pine Rivers Lucas Harris.
on McDonald and Harris,
though, and really slowed the
two of them down.
"The last time we played
(Mitch) had 30 and he's a
very good ballplayer," Koopman said. "The strategy was
for someone else to beat us.
"We wanted to take Mitch
out of the game and then go
after Lucas, too."
Pine River didn't go away,
though, as it put pressure on
the ball and forced a number
of turnovers in the fourth
quarter but could never get
over the hump.
The Bucks went cold from
the perimeter in the fourth
quarter and had trouble get-

ting anything inside against

McBain's size.
"We shot 34 percent from
the floor and that's our lowest
shooting percentage since we
lost to them back in December," Goodenow said. "A lot of
that is due to their length.
"They're very tough to
shoot over."
Powell paced McBain with
19 points while Craig Sterk
had 18, Ty Sterk 12 and Vanderhoef 11.
Park paced Pine River
with 26 points, including
seven 3-pointers. Harris had
13 points and six rebounds
while Mason Powell added
11 points.

ALLEN PARK Detroit

general manager Martin
Mayhew got right to the
point when he introduced
newly acquired defensive
tackle Haloti Ngata.
"When
you lose a
guy as talented as
Ndamukong Suh,
to have
the ability
to replace
him with
a guy like
Ngata
Haloti
Ngata really alleviates a lot
of the concern about the
defensive tackle position,"
Mayhew said.
"So we're very, very
thrilled to have him."
Any more answers from
the front office about Suh's
departure will have to wait,
since Mayhew and the Lions' brass left without taking questions Wednesday,
but Ngata's arrival took
at least some of the sting
out of a rough start to free
agency for Detroit.
It may take more than
one player to replace
Suh, but in Ngata, Detroit
brought in a five-time Pro
Bowler whose 6-foot-4,
340-pound frame is an impressive presence on the
line of scrimmage.
"I know Ndamukong Suh
was a great player. We're totally different type of players. I'm here to be me and
not be Ndamukong Suh,"
Ngata said. "Hopefully I can
continue to make an impact
on this team. That's why
they brought me here."
As Suh was leaving via
free agency, the Lions
were taking advantage of
another player's contract
uncertainty. The Baltimore
Ravens were hoping to
renegotiate the 31-year-old
Ngata's deal, but they ended up trading him to the
Lions instead. Ngata is due
$8.5 million next season.
Ngata says he's open
to the possibility of a
contract extension with
Detroit. He was asked how
much he has left after nine
NFL seasons.
"About 10 years," he joked.
"I'm just playing. You know,
whatever happens is going to
happen. It will be a decision
between my wife and I. If it's
time, then we'll know. But
right now I feel like I can play.
We'll just deal with it as that."
Ngata has 25 1/2 sacks
in his career, 10 1/2 fewer
than Suh, but if Ngata can
clog up opposing running
games, that could go a long
way toward keeping the Lions among the top defenses
in the NFL.

Red-hot Rangers beat Lake City

Jayden (Perry) but we had some

other guys really step up.
"Treh (Helsel) and Jonah (Nelson)
MCBAIN Stellar start.
hit those first couple of threes and
The finish was never in doubt.
we took off from there."
Manton got off to about the best
To compound matters, Lake City
start it could as it cruised to a 62-15
win over Lake City in a Class C boys lost the services of freshman point
guard Cade Peterson to an injury
basketball district contest Wednesearly in the game.
day night at McBain.
The Trojans were never able to
The win sends the Rangers (16-5
find a rhythm.
overall) into Friday's title game at
"Manton played phenomenal
7 p.m. against host McBain. The
give the credit to them," Lake City
Ramblers beat Pine River 73-64 in
coach Brad Besko said. "It was alWednesday's first game.
most like a hurricaneit hit you
Manton came out firing on all cylinders against Lake City as it led 25-2 before you could think.
"Then when we lost Cade, it was
after the first quarter.
almost like adding insult to injury.
"I thought we came out with a lot
We just couldn't dig ourselves out of
of intensity tonight, played great
the hole at that point. It's not the way
defense and shot the ball well early
you want to end a season but that's
in the game," Manton coach Ryan
Hiller said. "They were in a triangle- the way it goes sometimes."
Manton carried a 47-11 lead into
and-two against Wyatt (Baker) and
cadillac news

marc vieau | cadillac news

Mantons Wyatt Baker looks to drive past Lake Citys Lucas Marion
during a Class C district contest Wednesday at McBain High
School. The Rangers beat the Trojans 62-15.

halftime and cruised from there.

Helsel paced the Rangers with 12
points while Nelson had 10. Hunter
Ruell added eight points and six rebounds while Perry had eight points.
Baker added seven.
Manton now turns its attention to
a McBain team that it lost to twice
during the regular season by about
30 points each time.
Hiller is hoping his team is due to
have a good game against the Ramblers.
"We're due to shoot well," he
laughed. "We're definitely the underdog, though, after the first two games.
"Coach Koopman does a great job
of having his teams crash the boards
and then get out quickly. If we can
control that, we can have a chance
in the fourth quarter and that's all
we're asking for."
Bradley Atkins paced Lake City with
six points and Marion added four.