WEST BRANCH – After seeing a game get away from them at the end in a 48-40 loss to Bay City John Glenn on the road last Tuesday, the Ogemaw Heights boys basketball team rebounded with a 60-52 win over Lincoln Alcona at home last Friday.
That was a big win since it not only brought the Falcons within two wins of the .500 mark on the season at 3-5, but it gave them a positive boost entering the Christmas break.
Ogemaw Heights shot 49 percent from the field against Alcona, including 43 percent from beyond the 3-point line making six treys.
The Falcons took a 26-22 lead at the half, but in the third quarter their turnover margin went down and their shooting percentage went up. The Falcons crashed the defensive boards and did not allow Alcona hardly any offensive rebounds.
Maintaining possession of the ball to get more scoring opportunities and denying Alcona second chance baskets, the Falcons raced to a 23-11 advantage in the third to build a 49-33 lead going into the fourth period.
Which was as good thing because Alcona came back to outscore the Falcons, 20-11 to cut into the lead.
“I didn’t have any film on them or anything,” Falcons’ coach Mike Weiler said. “I talked to a few people and they said Alcona crashed the boards and looked to feed the post, so we worked on that for two days.
“A big thing before the game, and even at halftime, was rebounding. We needed to get the rebound. We won the rebounding margin, 36-29. It wasn’t by a lot.”
Merik Hodgins buried five triples and scored a game-high 30 points to lead the Falcons. Tyler Eedy contributed 13, Jacob Rhine nine, Trevor Brown, Tyler Bailey and Trevor Likavic two apiece and Calvin Beck one.
Antavius Miklazes led Alcona with 18 points, while Josh Kilborn contributed nine. Aiden Urbobel and Damion Stewart each had eight.
John Glenn snapped the Falcons’ two-game winning streak, and it was thus important to shake off the loss and get back on the winning track before taking two weeks off.
“Defensively, I thought we played well,” Weiler said. “We gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter. One of their bigs (Dillon Kowalski) stepped out and hit three 3-point shots late.
“We didn’t shoot the great. Our field goal percentage was 27 percent. We were 12 of 20 at the free throw line, but just could not get any field goals to fall.
“Our press did seem to bother them. We were creating turnovers, but then we’d turn the ball over, too, and didn’t get extra possessions out of them. But, we did take some possessions away from them.”
Eedy had a nice game for the Falcons with 17 points, including three 3-point field goals. He shot 5 of 9 from the floor and was 4 of 6 at the free throw line. Jacob Rhine and Merik Hodgins each scored seven, Tyler Bailey six, Jere Getzinger two and Trevor Brown one.
Kowalski finished with a game-high 20 points for John Glenn, with six 3-point field goals.
