Hoops Roundup: Balazovic leads Cheboygan boys to season-opening win

ROGERS CITY — It wasn't a pretty performance, but Cheboygan varsity boys basketball coach Jason Friday didn't expect it to be in his team's opening game of the season.

At the end of the night, Friday's Chiefs ended up being just fine as they opened up their campaign with a 56-30 victory at Rogers City in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday.

"Lots of things that we need to iron out as we get ready for our first (Straits Area Conference) game, but overall, I was pretty happy with the way we played, especially with the way we shot the ball from three," said Friday, whose team built a 34-17 halftime lead and never looked back. "We knocked down six (three-pointers), which is obviously very nice, and we didn't shot a lot of threes, which was also the nice thing.

"If you're six-for-25, that's not a good percentage. I bet we were around six-for-15, six-for-17, and that's where we want to be. We want to shoot in that 15 and 17 range. We don't want to shoot 25 to 30."

The Chiefs (1-0) received a stellar performance from sophomore Dylan Balazovic, who poured in a team-high 18 points.

"He (Balazovic) just sort of puts his head down and gets to the hole and finds a way," Friday said. "He's not afraid of anything. He just gets there, rebounds. When you look at him, he's not the tallest guy on the team, but he's got a huge heart and he just battles and fights.

"He plays basketball like he's going through the line in football with an inside handoff."

Balazovic was one of three double-figure scorers for the Chiefs, who received 11 points from Henry Stempky and 10 points from David Heyer.

"Anytime you start off with a win, that's a nice start to the season," Friday said. "We got off to a slow start. It took us a while, but all of a sudden we knocked down three threes late in the first quarter. David (Heyer) hit a three, Henry (Stempky) hit a couple threes and just sort of got us rolling from there."

Carson Mercer finished with six points for the Chiefs, while Kaleb Blaskowski added five. Connor Gibbons, Eli Couture and Luke Sarrault rounded out Cheboygan with two points apiece.

While the Chiefs were victorious on Tuesday, they will be without senior Daniel Wilcome for a lengthy period of time after Wilcome suffered a recent ankle injury that required surgery.

In the junior varsity contest, Brennen Thater scored 11 points to lead Cheboygan in a 52-22 victory.

Daniel Hudson finished with eight points for the Chiefs, while Kaleb Goodrich and Evan Brantley each had seven, and Owen Kimbrell and Luke Hoskins both recorded four. Patrick Watson, Robert Godfrey, Evan Benson and Luke Munger added two points each. Noah Buchanon scored one.

The Cheboygan teams will take on Newberry in their home openers on Thursday.

Comets edge Hornets in OT thriller

MACKINAW CITY — It was nearly a comeback for the ages for the Pellston boys basketball team.

But in the end, the Hornets came up narrowly short in a 70-65 overtime loss at Mackinaw City in their season opener on Tuesday.

Trailing 45-30 at halftime and 50-40 after three quarters, the Hornets (0-1) staged a furious fourth-quarter rally that sent the game to OT, with both teams in a 59-59 deadlock.

The Comets (1-0) outscored the Hornets by an 11-6 margin in OT to earn a hard-fought win over one of their rivals.

Coaching his first game in charge of the varsity Hornets, Nate Meinke was pleased with his team's showing even in defeat.

"We played an awesome second half," said Meinke. "We came out kind of timid, I think, a little nervous. They (Mackinaw City) had some size on us, we kind of turned the ball over a little bit. We just had those first-game jitters. For our whole team, besides Coby (Dyer), that was our first game. I was happy with the way we fought back, it was great.

"We went eight-for-20 from the free throw line, so if we knock a few of those down, maybe we come out with a win. It was a great game."

Laith Griffith scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Hornets, while Logan Keiser netted 12 and Dyer added 10.

Mackinaw City's Lars Huffman led all scorers with 28 points. Lucas Bergstrom tallied 17, Sabastian Pierce had 10, Trystan Swanson netted six and Cooper Whipkey added five.

Pellston will head to Harbor Springs for a non-conference matchup on Monday, Dec. 13, while Mackinaw City hosts Alanson in a Northern Lakes Conference contest on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

Bulldogs struggle with shooting in loss to Harbor Springs

INDIAN RIVER — The effort was there all night from the Inland Lakes boys basketball team.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they didn't see many shots fall.

In the end, the opener for the Bulldogs ended up being a 65-25 loss to the Harbor Springs Rams in a non-conference home clash on Tuesday.

"Happy with the effort, hustle and attitudes — I never imagined our second quarter would be that bad," said Inland Lakes coach Lee Nash, whose team only trailed 15-8 after one, but fell into a 33-10 hole at halftime. "We struggled all night long shooting. One of their top players (Jude Proctor) made it tough on us. He was really tough to guard, and it seemed like he made the right play no matter what kind of pressure we threw at him."

Austin Brege led the Bulldogs (0-1) with seven points, while Mason Blumke netted six. Sam Schoonmaker rounded out the Bulldogs with four points and seven blocks.

"Sam Schoonmaker had a really nice game for us," Nash said. "Mason Blumke was diving out on the court all night, and Austin Brege was really aggressive. We were forcing turnovers, but we just couldn't capitalize."

Proctor scored a game-high 21 points to lead Harbor Springs in the win.

Inland Lakes will be off until a Ski Valley Conference road matchup at Johannesburg-Lewiston on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Prep Boys Basketball Roundup