Sturgis teams split with Paw Paw
Visiting Paw Paw might not have arrived on time Friday, but the games between the Red Wolves and Trojans were completed as planned. It was a road win for the Paw Paw girls, a team which improved to 9-5 overall and won its third straight on the season, 82-45 over SHS, which fell to 2-12 officially on the season.
The boys game was bumped back a bit for the opening tip after Winterfest royalty was crowed with Elrain Montoya and Ashley Correa being announced as king and queen, respectively. Following that, the Trojans held on for a 47-44 win over the Red Wolves. The win improves SHS to 3-8 on the season as the Trojans have now put two victories together in their last three games. Paw Paw is now 3-9.
Sturgis 47, Paw Paw 44 (boys)Following a pair of big free throws from Ian Smith to give Sturgis a 3-point lead late, the Trojan defense stepped up. Paw Paw held possession of the basketball with time winding down and trailed by just a single possession.
A deflection from Brock Fergison that pushed the basketball into the back court for Paw Paw as time was nearly expired helped secure the close win for Sturgis.
“We handled their pressure at the end, we got some big foul shots from Ian and I liked how we finished the game defensively,” Sturgis coach Keith Kurowski said. “Definitely proud of how we dug in defensively in that fourth quarter. We really stepped up defensively there with our intensity. We played with great effort tonight and made things difficult for them late.”
Smith’s free throws late took a 45-44 lead for Sturgis and pushed it out to 47-44, forcing Paw Paw to have to put up a 3-pointer for a tie. The Trojans batted away a couple of attempts by the Red Wolves to get off a good shot, culminating in the close win.
“Good team effort for us,” Kurowski said. “Great team win at home.”
Sturgis jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the contest in the first quarter. Paw Paw made a bit of a run, getting shots from Truman Brennan and Aydn Roth to fall. Sturgis would use a couple of timeouts in that opening quarter to try and stop any momentum Paw Paw could build.
It helped the Trojans take a 15-9 advantage after eight minutes.
Sturgis would take a 23-20 lead into the locker room for halftime. Paw Paw came out after halftime and put up 15 points, giving them the lead. The Red Wolves advantage heading into the fourth was 35-32.
“It was a game of runs tonight, we went into halftime up just a single possession,” Kurowski said. “I think we got bogged down in that third quarter as well. They jumped on us a bit and took back the momentum we had established in the first half.”
The 15-9 score in the first quarter was replicated by Paw Paw in the third and Sturgis again in the fourth.Sturgis played well at both ends of the floor down the stretch, including getting some positive minutes from the non-starters.
“Our bench guys are intangible guys, they give us energy, defense and hustle,” Kurowski said. “I challenged them yesterday and they responded.”
Sturgis shot only six free throws in the game, but made four of them. They also knocked down five triples in the game.
Jacob Thompson led the team with 16 points, only four came in the second half. Gavyn Moore connected for 13 points while Smith finished with 10 and Grady Miller added eight.
Paw Paw’s top two scorers were freshmen. Brennan finished with 15, Roth connected for 12. The Red Wolves made only 8-of-14 foul shots in the game.
Paw Paw 82, Sturgis 45 (girls)
The Sturgis girls lost for the fifth consecutive game on Friday in an 82-45 decision to Paw Paw. The 45 points for the Lady Trojans was the most scored since a 48-31 win over White Pigeon on Jan. 10, the team’s last win.
Paw Paw came into the game fresh off wins over Otsego (48-38) and Allegan (52-38). The Red Wolves sport both size and athleticism, which gave the Trojans some problems.
“It’s hard to prepare for that size and length because not only are they long, they’re physical as well,” Sturgis coach Jeremy Bucklin said. “But, our girls battled all night and that’s all we can ask them to do.”
The game was close early on as Sturgis broke the Red Wolves press a couple of times for easy buckets. But Paw Paw kept that press on and turned a close game into a double-digit margin after four consecutive steals that led immediately to layups.
After one quarter of play, Paw Paw’s lead was 26-11. Sturgis would end up scoring double figures in all four quarters in the game, which was a bright spot for the Lady Trojans.
“Offensively, we’re pretty happy with what we did, we had good ball movement, found open shooters,” Bucklin said. “And we had some girls knock down some shots tonight. I thought we played them as tough as we could.”
Unfortunately for Sturgis, the offense for Paw Paw was up and running as well. The Red Wolves took a 15-point lead after one quarter and lengthened it out to 21 at the break, 44-23.
Paw Paw’s highest-scoring quarter came in the third with 27 points. The Red Wolves got four 3-pointers in that third quarter from Grace Mitchell, she hit six triples for the game.
As a team, Paw Paw buried 11 shots from downtown in the contest. The lead was 71-34 entering the final quarter.In the fourth, each team hit for 11 points. Sturgis got a pair of 3-pointers from Makenna Miller in the final eight minutes.
“We just have to continue to get shots up,” Bucklin said. “I’m proud of how our girls played tonight, they battled their butts off again tonight.”
Sturgis made 9-of-18 free throws in the game and hit six triples.
Both Rylee Carver and Keyanna O’Tey finished with 10 points in the game. Kennedy Finnerman struck for nine, Miller and Leigh Eells each scored six points and Emily Schuller hit for four points.
Paw Paw got a game-high 24 from Mitchell. Katelyn Baney scored 20 points and AJ Rickli added 18.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis teams split with Paw Paw
