Booms blocks Dhyse
Dhyse drives past Glaza
It was clear from the opening moments of North Huron's 49-47 win over Ubly last night that the Warriors wanted this one bad.
And why shouldn't they have? Despite being arguably the best team in the NCTL this season (personally I don't see one that is better) and the reigning All-Thumb Team of the Year, not too many people out of the Kinde area gave the Warriors much of a chance of keeping the game close, let alone winning it.
But North Huron's players weren't affected by any of that hype and showed a lot of heart, energy and focus early as they erased an early 7-4 deficit with a 10-0 run, which included eight points from Sean Clancy (17 in the first half, 21 for the game). After a late run by Ubly, North Huron clung to a 14-11 after the first.
The Bearcats pulled within one (16-15) midway through the second following a Tyler Kubacki score (he led his team with 12 points), but over the final four minutes the Warriors went on a 17-6 tear to take a 12 point lead (33-21) into the half. North Huron's Eric Dhyse had eight of his 14 points in that critical second quarter.
To put it simply, North Huron dictated the pace of the first half. They pushed the ball when they had the opportunity, they pressured Ubly defensively and for the most part shut down the Bearcat's post presence. How did they do it? They took a page out of the book of Lakers, who had the most sucess against Ubly's low-post threat out of the Bearcat's first three opponents.
Here is a breakdown of what Steven Weber and Tyler Kubacki, who were held to a combined 20 points against North Huron (TK 12, Weber 8), have done so far this season:
In a five point win over Reese, they combined for 34 points (20 Weber, 14 TK);
In a three point win over Lakers, they combined for 27 (16 TK, 11 Weber);
In a 73-60 win over USA, they combined for 39 points (22 Weber, 17 TK).
Coach Empkie, who scouted Ubly during the Laker game, noted the success EPBP had using a 2-3 zone against the Bearcats. Despite not knowing much about that defense, he read up on it and implemented it for yesterday's game and it was quite successful.
As for the early first half defecit, coach Joel Leipprandt credited North Huron's play and added that mentally his team did not come to play in the first half.
In the third quarter, Ubly picked up the pace on defense as they held North Huron to four points, but the offense continued to struggle and only mustered nine points, cutting the Warriors lead to 37-30 heading into the fourth.
Things got fast and furious in the final eight minutes with Ubly regaining the lead for the first time since the first quarter 38-37 on a Weber score with 4:29 to go in the game.
However, North Huron responded with six straight points to take a 43-38 lead with 1:18 to go. That stretched included the only two points of the game from the Warrior's John Schramski.
Five seconds later, Justin Cleary (9 points) drilled a triple to cut it to a 43-41, but a Sean Clancy dunk with 44 seconds to go, increased North Huron's advantage to 45-41.
Ubly responded with another three from Cleary to pull within one (45-44), but Clancy smoothly hit a pair of free throws to give his team a 47-44 lead with 24 seconds to play.
Adam Glaza (11 points) hit a three with 16 seconds to go, which tied the game, but they got caught napping as North Huron quickly pushed the ball up the court from Dhyse to Kevin Rice for the game-winning lay-up with nine seconds to go, Rice's only points of the game.
Leipprandt explained his team had been in such a fouling mode at that point, they had one foul compared to six for North Huron late in the quarter and been making up for lost time (putting themselves in position to send North Huron to the line if necessary), and for a second or two hesistated, not knowing whether to foul or just play defense. That hesitation cost them.
As for North Huron, the game-winning play nearly didn't happen, as Empkie considered calling a time out and setting up a final play, but saw what was developing and let it go. It obviously proved to be the right decision.
This was truly a signature win for the Warriors, who have won 26 straight regular season games at this point (2 to end 2007-2008, 20 in 2008-2009), 4 to start 2009-2010), and could conceivably be at 42 by the end of this season.
I thought their biggest obstacle to a second straight undefeated season would be this game and with this victory and having been tested at this level, as long as these players don't let this win go to their heads or there aren't any significant injuries, I can't see this team losing too many if any regular season games this year.
Let me say it right now, I think they're going 20-0 and if that happens, that nice TSA Team of the Year trophy could be staying in the North Huron trophy case for another year.
But this is all conjecture at this point, because while on paper it would appear the path to a perfect season has been cleared, the games still have to be played.
If games were only played on paper, Ubly would be the undefeated team right now and North Huron's regular season win streak would have ended at 25.
As for Ubly's future this season, this game doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things as it is a non-league game. Leipprandt said the loss could turn out to be a good thing in the long run, as it might show this team they need to continue to work hard to be successful and bring them down to Earth in terms of how good they are.
