Onaway tops Pellston in ‘Orange Out’ game in support of Escanaba

PELLSTON – When the offense is out of sorts, it’s usually a good thing to have a defense that travels.

With the Onaway Cardinals struggling from the field against an upset-minded Pellston team on the road, they resorted back to their bread and butter and found a way to pull away.

That bread and butter was their swarming defense, which eventually overwhelmed the Hornets and resulted in enough scoring success to capture a 62-47 victory in Pellston on Tuesday night.

“I want to shoot the ball as much as possible because defensively we’re going to make the stops, we’re going to get the ball back, and that’s one thing that I demand out of these guys is that, ‘If you’re not going to play defense, I don’t have a spot for you,’” said Onaway coach Eddy Szymoniak. “These guys bring it every night. It’s something we take pride in. Everyone talks about our defense and that’s something we have to establish every single night.”

Holding a narrow 26-22 halftime edge, the Cardinals (11-2, 9-1 Ski Valley Conference) began to impose their defensive will on the Hornets (3-9, 1-7) early in the third quarter, forcing several turnovers and then scoring on the other end. Within just a few minutes, the Cardinals went on a 14-2 run to take a commanding 40-24 advantage. Fueling Onaway’s defense was junior Jadin Mix, who also made his presence known offensively by connecting on a made 3-pointer to put the Cardinals up 36-24 and force a Pellston timeout.

By the start of the fourth, the Cardinals were in cruise control and coasted to a sixth consecutive victory.

“Normally I would probably be a little more animated (with the halftime talk), but I could see it before the tip that we didn’t have the same energy as we’ve had the last few games,” Szymoniak said. “I just let them know that, ‘Hey, this is a game you don’t want to let slip through your fingers here,’ and we weren’t playing that way. It was time for us to step it up, and everything looked hesitant. It looked like we were hesitating and second-guessing everything in that first half. We had too good of shooters who were giving up shots and weren’t sure if they should drive or shoot, and I just told them, ‘I don’t care, if we play good enough defense, we’ll get the ball back, and I just want to get some shots up.'

“They were ready to turn it on in the second half a little bit.”

Knowing they had a tall task on their hands coming in, the Hornets played with no fear in the opening quarter, hanging tough with the Cardinals and trailing only by one heading to the second.

The Hornets took a 17-16 lead in the second when senior Hale Dufresne drilled a 3-pointer and then went up 19-16 after senior Coby Dyer sunk a pair of free throws. However, the Cardinals responded with a 10-3 run to close the half. With the game tied at 22, Onaway junior Jackson Chaskey made a three and then split from the free throw line to help the Cardinals take the four-lead lead.

The Hornets certainly put themselves in a strong position to pull off a stunner at the half, but they eventually succumbed to the relentless pressure defense of the Cardinals over the last two quarters.

“Obviously Onaway’s pressure – it’s constant all game and eventually it gets to you,” said Pellston coach Nate Meinke. “This is the longest we’ve held it off, so I’m proud of the way we played in the first half. Without a couple dumb fouls, we could’ve been pretty much tied going into the half, but the wheels kind of fell off, one turnover leads to another. We didn’t get Coby (Dyer) going too much, but their pressure defense makes it tough to set up much of an offense.”

Despite struggling with his shooting in the first half, junior guard Austin Veal recovered by netting 16 of his game-high 23 points over the final two quarters to pace the Cardinals, who received 12 points from junior Justin Kramer-St. Germain. Mix and Chaskey both finished with nine, while Cole Selke had four, Mason Beebe tallied three, and Brendon Brewbaker chipped in with two.

“In games like this, that’s the best part about having the team that we have and the drive that they have,” Szymoniak said. “The shots might not be going in, but we’re going to find ways to win, and that’s the best part about these guys. They don’t get down, they know if we’re not shooting the ball well from the outside that we can find another way, and we know no matter what that we’re going to find some points just off defense.”

For Pellston, sophomore Brach Taylor’s 12 points led the way, while Dyer finished with 10, Logan Keiser scored nine, Dufresne netted five, Chris Dankert recorded four, Jack Schmalzried added three, and Garrett Cameron finished with two.

“It’s good to see (us stay close), it’s just I have a lot of faith in our guys so it’s frustrating to see us, because we’ve gotten to this point with a few other teams – we played (Gaylord) St. Mary’s pretty tight for the whole game – so we just need to put together a full game, full 32 minutes and hopefully we can do that here coming into March,” Meinke said.

Both teams wear orange to support Eskymos, Weaver family

Usually, basketball is on the mind front and center for Szymoniak and Meinke.

But Tuesday night was different for both coaches, their players and anybody who was present in Pellston for the matchup between the Cardinals and Hornets.

On this night, many in attendance wore the color orange in support of the Escanaba High School athletic community, which was struck last weekend by the tragic loss of both Gerald, 47, and Tara Weaver, 46, who were killed while heading to watch their son’s boys basketball game in Sault Ste. Marie. The Weavers had three children, all who attended or currently attend Escanaba High School.

Both Pellston and Onaway raised money on Tuesday night, with all proceeds from each of the varsity and junior varsity games going to the Weaver family. Pellston and Onaway are two of several Northern Michigan communities to rally around Escanaba since the tragedy occurred last Friday.

“I get pretty emotional about things like this, but as much as I wanted them to focus on basketball, I wanted them to understand what tonight meant and how quickly something can be ripped away from you, and it could be any one of us, and I just wanted let my guys know that, 'No matter what happens to us tonight, go out and appreciate and play every quarter and every second like it’s your last, enjoy these moments with your classmates and teammates and your fans that are here, because you never know when something like that is going to happen,'” Szymoniak said. “To see this support out of both communities was amazing, it was awesome. There’s sometimes where we get so wrapped up in games and in sports that we don’t see the bigger picture.

“It was good to see this and take a step back and look at reality.”

Meinke said the support from both communities was a great touch following the tragedy just a few days ago.

“It’s awesome,” Meinke said. “Obviously the money we raised was awesome, and the support we’ve got for it, but I’ve heard other stories about what’s going on up in the U.P., and it’s just really cool to see what can happen when everyone gets together.”

Still second place in the Ski Valley, Onaway travels to Forest Area on Thursday.

Pellston will welcome in Ski Valley leader Gaylord St. Mary on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Onaway tops Pellston in ‘Orange Out’ game in support of Escanaba