Pinconning - Game #1, Garber vs. John Glenn
The game looked promising early for the Bobcats.  John Glenn was up early 4-0 and then by a score of 9-4 after Glenn's Charles Baumer nailed a three ball.  That was is when things started to go south for the Cats.  Garber scored the last 9 points of the quarter and went on the finish the half on a 25-4 run and a 29-13 lead.  Nothing went right for John Glenn, every entry pass and shot went contested, many of them leading to turnovers, forced by the Dukes.  Jordan Henika, the games leading scorer, had 8 at the break and finished with 14.  The Duke's 'Big' man scored from both inside and outside.  Brad LeVassuer and Randon Henika were also having big games for the Dukes, while Brett Eichorn was doing a good job running the offense at the point. 

The 2nd half was more of the same with the contest never in doubt.  The Bobcats managed only 12 second half points to go along with their 13 in the first half.  Garber slowed it down a little, but still had a stranglehold on the  ball game.  After a Joseph Grimmer basket for John Glenn early in the fourth that cut the lead down to 18, the Dukes went on a 10-0 run to push it back to 28 points, putting the game out of reach for good.  The final score came to 51-25 in favor of the Dukes.

John Glenn isn't as bad as the scoreboard keeps showing night after night.  They have some talent on the team but seem to have trouble putting all aspects together for a complete game.  Movement without the ball was one of the key issues that I noticed in this game.  On the other hand, Garber gets a satisfying win that takes them off of a 2 game losing streak. 

 

Game #2, All Saints vs. Pinconning
From the get go and for the entire first half this game looked to be a carbon copy of the opening game.  The Spartans led 17-10 after one, if not for 2 Nick Simpson 3 ball, it would have been a lot worse.  All Saints began to claw back in the 2nd quarter, cutting the lead to 4 at 24-20, then Pinconning roared out to a 14-2 run the close the first half.  Nick Simpson continued to play well for All Saints but Pinconning had Williams Pickvet, Brandon Delgado and Andrew Marut on a roll.  6 different Spartans got into the scoring act. 

After the way that the Spartans shot in the 1st half and the energy that they brought to the floor it was hard to imagine All Saints making up such a large margin in the final 16 minutes.  They almost proved everyone wrong on that account.  The Cougars came out of the break with a new sense of motivation and played with a chip on their shoulder that worked out for the most part.  Nick Simpson poured in 10 more in the 3rd quarter alone to pull his squad within 6.  Ollie Hull was also having a monster quarter. 

Andrew Marut buried a three for Pinconning to open the fourth quarter, putting his team back up by 9.  The Cougars then made the run of the game which came up just a little short.  Ollie Hull got the run started, then Aaron Janer and Cameron Coburn hit back to back threes.  After Janer's three, All Saints stole the inbounds pass, kicked it out to Coburn immediately as he fired and sank the three ball that pulled the Cougars to within 1.  The night's most impressive player then took charge.  Pickvet, put home a basket to give his team the 3 point lead and then on the ensuing possession, grabbed an offensive rebound, dribbled the ball behind the 2 point line and nailed the triple, putting the Spartans up by 6 and regaining momentum. 

The Cougars were able to claw back to within 4 again but that was as close as they got.  The Spartans were golden from the free throw line down the stretch.  Pickvet hit 8 free throws in the fourth quarter, 12 in the game.  He finished with 25 points in all.  Brandon Delgado finished with 15 in the Spartans 65-56 victory.  On the flipside, Nick Simpson led All Saints with 20 and Hull had 14.  The game packed plenty of excitement which for a while early on, didn't look to be that way. 

The Cougars although dropping the game, look to be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.  They are a squad that plays up in their league and outside of it which should help them in the postseason when they play teams more similar to their enrollment size.  Pinconning looked solid tonight, their lone loss was to a winless Bay City Central team but that is yet to be seen, whether it was a fluke or indication of their schedule.