Flint - It's one of those clichés, free throws can win or lose you ball games.  The charity stripe played a crucial role in last night's season opener at Powers Catholic.  The Chargers iced the game in the waning moments with points from the free throw line, 4 of them by Powers standout and Arizona bound Forward, Laval Lucas-Perry.  Lucas-Perry was 10-10 at the line for the game.  Andrew Charlesworth and Tyler Moreland also nailed their attempts at the end of the game.  Powers' win had a lot more involved than just free throws but if you had to put your finger on one aspect that separated these two teams, that was it.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, Flint Northwestern had a golden opportunity to cut the lead to three at the end of the third, after being fouled from the three point line.  The Wildcats missed all three attempts, that was just one in a series of foul line trouble that plagued Northwestern.

LLP and Tyler Moreland got the Chargers going early with 2 big three point makes that put them up 9-2.  Powers led 16-9 after the first intermission.  The two teams traded buckets at the start of the second quarter but the Chargers then went on a tear, going on a 12-0 run that put them up 30-11 with just over 3 minutes before halftime.  The Wildcats clawed a little closer before the break, behind the efforts of DeAndre Upchurch with 10 points and Jeff Grayer with 7, to make the score 40-25 at halftime.  LLP had 10 points and Andrew Charlesworth had 11 to lead all scorers, headed into the locker-room. 

Past the midway point in the third quarter, the Wildcats made their move.  Damon Franklin who only had 4 points at the break and Grayer, started to heat up.  Down by 15 at 48-33, the Cats made a 11-2 run, capped off by a three point play by Marcus Green, to cut the lead to six points.  After the third quarter, Powers maintained that 6 point lead.

The fourth quarter turned in to the LLP vs. Franklin show.  Both playmakers took over the game with help from their friends.  It seemed as each time one had scored, the other had come right back down to the other end to match the effort.  The most exciting play of the game happened, when Franklin got loose on a breakaway and threw down a thunderous 1 handed jam.  The Wildcat faithful went nuts.  The jam had put the Cats within 2 at 54-52.  With 3:31 remaining in the game and Powers up 56-54, Mike Zureikat hit a clutch three pointer from the right wing, to put them back up by 5.  Upchurch and Green answered right back for the Cats putting in two consecutive buckets to cut the margin to just 1.  The next sequence of events turned the tide and the game around for good.  Tyler Moreland drove to the hole and put the Chargers up by three but on the ensuing inbounds from Northwestern, Zureikat stole the inbounds pass and laid it in for a 5 point lead at 63-58.  The teams traded buckets after that, but that was the play that woke the Chargers and their faithful up for the homestretch.  This is the point in the game where the Chargers made all of their free throw attempts and iced it, 73-68.

It was an exciting game between two of Mid-Michigan's best teams and groups of talent.  LLP finished with 24, Charlesworth 15, Moreland with 12 and Zuriekat contributing with 8.  Powers' freshman, Pat O'Brien had a solid game putting in 6 points.  On the other side, Franklin put in 18 points, 14 of them in the 2nd half.  Upchurch had 20, Grayer had 19, Green with 5 and Lowe added 6 points with a good game down low, defensively. 

It was the first game for new Chargers' head coach Tim Herman.  I was very impressed with Herman's ability to slow thing down and keep control with the use of timeouts.  He didn't wait until Powers was behind or in total disarray before using the timeouts, he used them to stem Wildcat runs.  Things wont get a whole easier for Powers next Monday as they take on Flint Northern, and then move on to Big 9 rival, Carman-Ainsworth right after that.