The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Hornets win sixth straight, 53-47
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2008
To say the Saline boys' basketball team is on a roll might be an understatement.
Advertisement
The Hornets won their sixth straight game Tuesday night, dispatching visiting Chelsea 53-47 on Senior Night behind 20 points from center Kyle Larsen. Paired with a 47-37 road win Thursday over Adrian, Saline has now moved two games clear of .500 at 10-8 overall and stands at 9-5 in Southeastern Conference play.
Against the Bulldogs, Saline head coach Jay Plitzuweit said the difference was a first-half defensive performance that held the visitors to just four second quarter points as a 16-1 run gave the Hornets a 31-18 halftime lead it would not relinquish.
"Chelsea's an unbelievably well-coached team with an offense that relies on rhythm," Plitzuweit said. "I think we were able to disrupt that, get them out of that rhythm, and force them to do some things offensively they weren't comfortable doing."
With Saline up 35-23, the Bulldogs scored eight straight to cut the lead to four with 59 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
But it was as close as Chelsea would come. Larsen answered with a three-point play just ahead of the third quarter buzzer and after a Bulldog free throw to open the fourth, scored again to restore the lead to 40-32 with 6:30 to play.
Three times down the stretch Chelsea would pull within six, the last coming at 49-43 on a basket with 54 seconds to play. Larsen was fouled and connected on the front end of a one-and-one before missing the bonus, but fellow senior Jake Santure snuck in to tap the rebound home and give Saline a commanding 52-43 lead with just 52 seconds remaining.
Saline finished the game shooting 53.8 percent from the floor, the second straight game the Hornets have shot 50 percent or better after going 16-of-30 against Adrian. 14 of the Hornets' 16 baskets in that game came after assists.
"Right now we're getting very good shots, shots in rhythm," Plitzuweit said. "If we can stop turning the ball over, that'll be a big help. But we're taking high percentage shots."
Larsen's 20 points while leading the team with 12 rebounds gave him his fifth 20-point performance in six games. He was joined in double figures by Jacob Fosdick with 18 points. Fosdick also added five rebounds and a team-high six steals.
Rounding out the Hornet scoring was Santure with six points, Tyler Bagbey with four, Drew Green with three, and Eric Braham, recently returned from a hand injury, with two.
Against Adrian, Saline avenged a home loss to the Maples in the teams' first meeting by seizing a 19-4 lead after the first quarter and a 32-14 advantage at halftime. The Hornets would score just 15 points after the break but kept Adrian in check to earn the 10-point victory.
Fosdick led the way with 17 points, followed by Larsen with 14, Green with six, Santure with five, Bagbey with three, and Cord Trott with two points and six assists.
"I'm happy for the kids that we're winning. We're making plays that allow us to be successful," Plitzuweit said, "but we've still got a long ways to go. We're going to have to cut down on our mental mistakes to take the next step."
Those "mental mistakes" included seven first-quarter turnovers as Chelsea led by as many as five and 14-11 at the end of one. They were up 17-15 when Fosdick's three-pointer with 2:47 to play in the first half kickstarted the 16-point spurt capped by Larsen's basket as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Saline will have a weekend off before their next game, on the road at undefeated Ann Arbor Pioneer Tuesday.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
