The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Saline snaps streak in OT
Hornets win thriller in Adrian 43-42, give No. 5 Chelsea 2nd-half test
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 8, 2007
They lost a close one to Tecumseh and a close one to Bedford.
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Apparently, the Saline boys' basketball team was tired of losing close ones.
Kyle Larsen rebounded his own miss and hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining in overtime to give Saline a 43-42 win over Adrian Friday night in Adrian. The win snapped a four-game losing streak and improved the Hornets' record to 4-9, 2-6 in Southeastern Conference play.
The schedule-maker was unkind to Saline's chances for the team's first back-to-back wins of the season, however, as the Hornets hosted SEC leader and Class B No. 5 Chelsea Feb. 6. While the Hornets were more competitive than they had been in a 54-37 loss to the Bulldogs Dec. 15, trailing by only seven with 3:10 to play, Chelsea was able to pull away for a 52-41 win.
"We were much better offensively in the second half," Saline head coach Terry Breneman said afterward, "but give Chelsea credit. They hit three or four key shots that kept us from really making a run. Still, if we had played as well as we did Friday, we would have been right there."
Breneman said he had "no doubt" the Hornets' second-half surge--which shaved 11 points from a 41-23 Bulldog lead--would not have happened without the win in Adrian.
"That'll carry us for a ways," he said. "We have some winnable games coming up and they're showing some confidence in themselves. If we continue to execute and eliminate the mental mistakes, we can win those games."
Saline prevailed after a tense second half that saw Adrian inch ahead by two after three quarters, 29-27. The Maples continued to cling to a one-point lead in the closing moments of the game until Aaron Ziegler drained one of Saline's five three-pointers, giving the Hornets a 38-36 lead.
That lead was short-lived as Adrian answered with a pair of free throws to force the extra session. A Derek Fairchild free throw and Jason Danneffel basket provided the only Saline scoring through the first three minutes-plus.
Four Maple free throws had given the home team a one-point edge before Larsen was able to draw the critical foul and sink both pressure-packed free throws. Fairchild stole the ball on Adrian's last-gasp possession and Saline escaped with the victory.
"I was so happy with our defensive effort," Brenemen said. "Our executed on both ends of the floor and did a fantastic job. Offensively, we did some things against their zone that were just terrific."
Ziegler and Danneffel were the only Hornets in double figures, with 10 points each. They were followed by Larsen with eight, Mike Adler and Gabe Helmuth with five, Fairchild with three, and Jake Santure with two.
Against Chelsea, the Bulldogs used a stifling defense and a 15-2 run to turn what had been a 9-9 game with 1:05 left in the opening quarter into a 24-11 lead late in the second. The Hornets shot only 3-of-15 from the field in the half.
The Saline offense began to come to life after the break, with a Larsen basket with 4:36 to play in the third briefly cutting the lead to 31-23. But the Bulldogs ran off the next 10 points to push their lead to 18, their largest.
A Ziegler three-pointer with 2:55 to play in the period sparked a 9-0 run to bring Saline within 41-32 entering the fourth, and Fairchild was fouled on his second three of the final quarter to give him a chance to cut the lead to 45-39. But the free throw missed and Chelsea scored the next two baskets to put the game out of reach, 49-38, with just 1:49 left.
Larsen led the Hornets with 14 points, followed by Ziegler with 11, Fairchild with nine, Steven Breneman with three, Helmuth with two and Santure with two.
Although Saline's most effective offensive weapon was the three-pointer –– the Hornets shot 7-of-16 from behind the arc for 43.8 percent, compared to 27.2 percent from inside the arc –– Larsen built on his late-game heroics at Adrian by adding a season-high 17 rebounds.
"The guys are looking for him," Breneman said. "Chelsea didn't have a post defender tonight (due to injury) and he was able to take advantage."
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