The Saline Reporter
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Dexter denies Saline, 50-46
Big night on boards for Larsen, Adler not enough on road
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2007
Last Friday, the Saline boys' basketball team put together one of its best efforts of the season.
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Unfortunately, when that effort came on the road against a solid Dexter Dreadnaughts squad, it wasn't enough.
Dexter's Johnny Benjamin scored two of his game-high 23 points with less than 20 seconds remaining to seal a 50-46 victory, overcoming a dominant performance from Saline on the offensive glass and 15 points from junior forward Kyle Larsen.
"They showed great resilience tonight," Saline head coach Terry Breneman said. "When you're on the kind of streak that we're on, sometimes kids can get down. But this group has kept their heads up. We played with effort and enthusiasm, and that's what you want to see."
That enthusiasm brought Saline back from a 28-20 deficit early in the third quarter. Five straight points from Aaron Ziegler and a long series of offensive rebounds from Larsen and senior forward Mike Adler sparked a 13-3 Hornet run capped by Larsen's putback with 1:56 in the period.
A costly Saline turnover led to a Dexter basket at the third-quarter buzzer and a 36-35 Dreadnaught lead entering the fourth. But five points in the first three minutes from Larsen tied the game at 40 with 5:36 to play.
At that point, Benjamin took over. The senior hit back-to-back jump shots, the second coming from three-point range with 2:44 remaining to put the home team up 45-40 and force Saline to call time out.
The Hornets got a pair of free throws from Jason Danneffel and a Ziegler basket to pull within 46-44 with 1:18 left, but Benjamin hit a pair of free throws following a foul call on Danneffell as he attempted to make a critical steal. The Saline coaching staff argued for a jump ball, but to no avail.
Larsen hit two free throws to pull the Hornets back within 48-46 as the clock went under a minute, but Benjamin's short jumper pushed the lead back to four. Derek Fairchild's desperation three, with less than five seconds, was off and the Dreadnaughts escaped with the four-point win.
The loss dropped Saline to 4-10 overall and 2-6 in Southeastern Conference play.
Larsen was joined in double-digits by Adler with a season-high 10 points, followed by Ziegler with nine, Danneffel and Jake Santure with five each, and Fairchild with two.
Larsen also grabbed a team-high 17 rebounds and Adler nine, a big part of a dominant 36-22 Saline edge on the glass, including a 16-10 offensive rebound advantage.
"I was real happy with our rebounding effort and our number of second-chance points," Breneman said. "Larsen played well for us, Adler played well for us … that's the best game he's played this season."
The key, Breneman said, was the Hornets' loss of focus toward the end of the first half. Saline had jumped out to an early 10-2 lead behind six points from Adler and led 19-14 with 3:01 to play in the second quarter before Dexter closed the half on an 8-0 run.
"Each and every game, we have a lapse in focus. Tonight it was just four minutes in the second quarter where we allowed them to do things on offense we didn't for the rest of the game," he said. "We just need to play 32 minutes. Other than that, we didn't have too many problems."
Saline's next game will be at home Tuesday against Ypsilanti-Lincoln.
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