The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Indians ice Hornets 46-42
Saline goes without field goal for final 9:20 in home loss
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 25, 2007
Hosting Tecumseh Friday night, the Saline boys' basketball team finally solved its season-long turnover problem.
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Unfortunately for the Hornets, a flurry of other problems left the home team without a field goal in the fourth quarter and a 46-42 loss to the Indians.
"We've seen improvement and we've had some good practices this week," a frustrated coach Terry Breneman said afterward, "but we took a step backward tonight."
A three-pointer by Saline's Aaron Ziegler tied the game at 35 with 1:26 to play in the third quarter, but it would prove to be the final basket of the game for Saline as the Hornets struggled to solve the Indians' zone defense. A series of Saline fouls, starting with one during Ziegler's shot, sent Tecumseh to the line for eight free throws in that 1:26 span and four makes, giving the Indians a 39-35 lead headed into the fourth.
A Derek Fairchild free throw to open the period cut the lead to three, but Tecumseh scored the only basket of the quarter to push the lead to five with 5:40 to play.
A pair of Gabe Helmuth foul shots with 2:56 remaining trimmed the lead to 43-39. Starting center Kyle Larsen fouled out 34 seconds later, however, and the ice-cold Hornets would not score again until Fairchild was fouled on a three-point attempt with only seven seconds left in the game.
Fairchild hit all three, bringing Saline within two, 44-42. A foul with 5.9 seconds remaining sent Tecumseh's Cameron Worker to the line, where the Indians had struggled, hitting only one of their previous six attempts. But Worker connected on both to clinch the win.
The loss dropped Saline to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play.
"We had too many defensive breakdowns, too many silly fouls," Breneman said. "We did things that a good basketball team doesn't do."
After committing 20 turnovers in the previous game against Lincoln, the Hornets committed a season-low seven against Tecumseh. But that improvement was offset by 32.6 percent shooting from the field, including 3-of-15 from behind the three-point arc.
Saline also committed 26 fouls, giving the visitors 32 free throw attempts to 20 for the Hornets.
Ziegler led the Hornets with 11 points, followed by Larsen with 10, Jason Danneffel with eight, Fairchild with seven, Mike Adler with four and Helmuth with two. Larsen led the Saline rebounding effort with seven.
Breneman said the key to bouncing back from the loss was for the Hornets to go back to work and focus on their next game.
"It starts with a great practice on Monday. We have to keep our heads up, our confidence up and pull together as a team," he said. "Every season has a low point. That's just got to be it."
Saline took an early lead as tight defense and five points from Ziegler fueled a 11-1 first-quarter Hornet run. The home team led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter and 16-10 midway through the second before Tecumseh closed the half on an 18-2 spurt. Saline scored only five points in the quarter.
The Hornets roared back to start the second half, opening on a 12-3 run to cut the Indian lead to 30-29 with 3:39 to play in the third. Larsen scored nine points in the run before back-to-back Ziegler baskets produced the 35-all tie.
Saline's next game is Friday on the road at SEC rivals Ann Arbor Pioneer.
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