A dominant second quarter was pivotal for the Inland Lakes boys basketball team, which delivered an impressive showing at Onaway on Friday night.
ONAWAY – It might’ve been a slow start for the Inland Lakes Bulldogs, but they didn’t panic at any point when they fell behind early at rival Onaway on Friday, Feb. 6.
Instead, they responded accordingly, clamped down on defense, and saw several players contribute to a 65-39 victory over the Cardinals in a Ski Valley boys basketball matchup.
Here’s some takeaways from the contest.
Dominant first half for I-L
The Cardinals (4-12, 4-10 Ski Valley) got the best of the Bulldogs (11-5, 10-3) in the early going, opening a 6-1 lead that was fueled by a 3-pointer from Cooper VanHuysen. But in a flash, Inland Lakes countered with a 10-0 to take the lead.
While Onaway managed to stay close after one quarter, the Bulldogs picked up their defensive play and tossed a shutout against the Cardinals, outscoring them 16-0 in the second quarter and taking a commanding 32-11 advantage into the break.
“This team likes to start slow, but they weathered the storm,” Inland Lakes coach Bryan Newman said. “They just responded. Athletically, I think we’re a pretty good team, and it’s a good thing our athleticism can allow us to keep ourselves in games and be able to put us over the top.”
The Bulldogs received another quality night from sophomore Zander Robinson, who led all scorers with 19 points, while senior Mason Green’s productive showing featured 15 points. Seniors Elijah Elliott (11 points) and Andre Bradford (nine points) both provided a significant advantage in the paint. Kiontae Mund and Ryder LaBrecque added four and three points respectively.
“I had a lot of guys who got a lot of minutes, especially some of my younger guys that we’ll have around for another year or two,” Newman said. “Zander (Robinson) played great tonight, Elijah Perkins played great tonight, and Hayden Ridley made the most out of his minutes. Landen Perkins and Landon Fenstermaker, a lot of those guys are juniors and sophomores, and they played a whale of a game.”
Cardinals find spark in third, but it's too late
It wasn’t the second half that sunk the Cardinals, who got their offense going by scoring 22 points and cutting the I-L lead to 14 in the third. Their struggles came in a scoreless second quarter.
Like the first matchup, the Bulldogs had a clear advantage in the frontcourt.
“They really ate us up in the post the last two games, and not having Drew (Harman-Blanchard) really hurt, and not having Brody (George) as a guard who’s quick and can handle pressure hurt,” Onaway coach Eddy Szymoniak said. “I was excited with the way we started out. We played tough, we moved the ball around well, and defensively we did a nice job, but once again, we’re not aggressive down low. Indian River’s got some good players down low, they’ve got some good size, and we struggled with that.”
Casey Kindt and VanHuysen fueled the Cardinals with 12 points apiece, while Keagan Beyer scored 10, and Matthew Russ added three.
“(At halftime), I kind of chewed their butts a little bit,” Szymoniak said. “They picked up the intensity a little bit, and offensively we weren’t moving the ball. I thought in the second half we made some adjustments and got aggressive, and we got Casey Kindt going. Casey Kindt can play as well as anybody in the paint, and we finally got to see that tonight. It’s a good step forward, and I think that’ll take some pressure off our guards when we can get some solid post play out of him.”
Inland Lakes hosts Ski Valley leader East Jordan on Tuesday, Feb. 10, while Onaway takes on Forest Area at home on Monday, Feb. 9.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Inland Lakes boys basketball captures road victory at rival Onaway
Category: General Sports
