Huron Downs Milford In Tournament Opener

Huron Downs Milford In Tournament Opener

Strack, Jamison Spark Win; Pioneers Await Howell Test

By Bill Anderson

HOWELL -- There is just no such thing as an easy tournament game. And the Huron High basketball team was made well aware of this fact in the Howell Class A District Tournament.

The Hurons had a real struggle on their hands throughout much of the game, but pulled away in the final two minutes for a 77-61 victory over Milford. The victory boosts their season record to 9-9.

The win also sets up the strong possibly of a re-match with Pioneer High, defending district champs, who go against Howell at 8:30 p.m. today. Should the Pioneers win tonight, they will meet the Hurons in the 7:30 p.m. Friday finals.

But the Hurons now know that they can expect any opponent to furnish a stout challenge in the tournaments. Especially, after the first round contest against Milford.

Milford just refused to fold in the game. The Redskins stayed within eight-to-ten points of the Hurons until the last couple of minutes.

From the Huron side of the game, it was about as good an offensive display as they have ever had. The club rolled 77 points up on the scoreboard, the most in the two-year history of the school. The old record was 76 in a win over Battle Creek Lakeview back in February.

Possibly, the deciding factor was the shooting of guard Dave Strack. More specifically, it might have been where Strack did his shooting from.

The senior backcourtman was able to get free continually in the corner. It couldn’t have been nicer because that seems to be his favorite spot to drill the ball through the hoop.

He wound up with a 26-point game and of those points, 17 came in the first half. He got eight of the Hurons’ first 19 points which contributed substantially to that initial lead.

“That was a mistake to let Strack have those shots from the dead corner,” said Milford Coach Dave Torrance. "After we scouted the East Lansing High game last Friday, we were worried about him driving. So we decided to concede the corner shots.”

Torrance felt his team, which finished with a 9-8 mark, was still within striking distance in the second half. The Redskins were only down 59-50 at the third quarter, but they got a bit of tough news just at the buzzer.

Their center, Dave Baker, suffered a knee injury just as the buzzer sounded. He left the court under his own power, but he did not play in the game again. He wound up with 18 points, and he got 10 of them in the third quarter.

When Huron center Larry Brooks fouled out with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter, Baker’ presence in the game might have given the Redskins the chance they needed. But Baker was on the bench with a possible ligament injury.

The cold figures reveal that the Hurons shot 43 percent from the floor while the Redskins, who looked hotter than their percentage, hit on just 23 per cent.

Although the Hurons won the rebounding battle by 39-34, it seemed that the front line of Pete Jamison-Larry Brooks-Dave Hackett dominated things to a much greater degree.

The closest the Redskins could get to Huron High was early in the fourth quarter when two free-throws by Doug Powers cut the lead to 59-52.

MILFORD

B -- FT -- TP

Baker 6 -- 6-6 -- 18

Powers 5 -- 6-9 -- 16

Harris 5 -- 0-0 -- 10

Newcomb 4 -- 0-0 -- 8

Clinard 3 -- 0-0 -- 6

Knowles 1 -- 0-0 -- 2

Neighbors 0 -- 1-2 -- 1

Cece 0 -- 0-1 -- 1

Monnier 0 -- 0-0 -- 0

Wilamo'i 0 -- 0-0 -- 0

Totals 24 -- 13-18 -- 61

HURON HIGH

B -- FT -- TP

Strack 12 -- 2-2 -- 26

Jamison 8 -- 3-3 -- 19

Brooks 5 -- 1-2 -- 17

Hackett 5 -- 0-2 -- ??

Patrick 2 -- 5-6 -- 9

Allen 1 -- 0-0 -- ?

Olsen 0 -- 0-0 -- ?

P'brink 0 -- 0-0 -- ?

Totals 33 -- 11-15 -- ??

MILFORD ... 13 -- 17 -- 19 -- 11-61

HURON HIGH ... 19 -- 24 -- 16 -- 16-77

PERSONALS

MILFORD (12): Bake 3, Clinard 3, Newcomb 3, Cece 1, Harris 1, Knowles 1. HURON HIGH (13): Brooks 5, Patrick 4, Strack 2, Jamison 1, Piepenbrink 1.

Photo captions:

DAVE STRACK

PETE JAMISON