The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Hornets off the mark in loss
New starter Larsen leads team with 11, but Dexter wins 43-35
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 11, 2007
Saline boys' basketball coach Terry Breneman believes that when his team's offense comes around, his Hornets will be fine.
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Unfortunately for Saline, the offense was still a work-in-progress Tuesday night against Dexter. The visiting Dreadnaughts held Saline without a field goal for the first 12 minutes of the game and never trailed en route to a 43-35 victory.
"We played some good defense. We made a few mistakes, but I was pleased with our effort defensively," Breneman said. "Offensively, we were just never in synch. We had some bad turnovers, we missed a lot of open shots … When you're not scoring, it puts a lot of pressure on your defense not to make mistakes."
The Hornet defense held Dexter to only two points through the game's first 3 1/2 minutes, but Saline failed to take advantage with three Kyle Larsen free throws the home team's only first-quarter scoring.
Aaron Ziegler gave Saline its first field goal with 3:58 remaining in the half, but by then Dexter had opened up a 15-7 lead and would go on to lead by 13, 22-9 at the end of two.
Dexter led 29-13 with 4:33 left in the third quarter before a Saline run got the Hornets back in the game. A Steven Breneman three sparked a 10-3 spurt capped by a Ziegler three at the 6:00 mark of the fourth that cut the Dreadnaught lead to 32-23.
Saline then recovered a loose ball and got an open three-point look for guard Derek Fairchild. But the shot missed and the visitors scored the next seven points, stretching the lead back to 40-23 and putting the game away.
Larsen led the Hornets with 11 points, followed by Ziegler, Steven Breneman, Jason Danneffell and Jacob Santure each with five, and Zach Lambert and Spencer Slade with two each.
The Dexter defeat came on the heels of a 52-32 road loss to Albion Friday in which the Hornets trailed by two at halftime only to be outscored 30-12 in the second half.
The games were Saline's first since starter Vince Helmuth left the team to enroll early at the University of Michigan. But Helmuth's replacement in the starting lineup, Larsen, has led the Hornets in scoring both games, including 16 in the Albion loss.
The problem, Terry Breneman said after the Dexter game, is knocking down the Hornets' open shots — a problem, he believes, stems from a lack of big-game experience.
"We just don't have it yet," he said. "But it will come. This is a better team than what we're playing like right now.
"We're frustrated. But I am not lacking confidence that this team will make improvements. We're going to get better."
Saline returns to action on the road 7 p.m. Friday against Lincoln.
Staff Writer Jerry Hinnen can be reached at 429-7380 or.
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