Huron hands Sailors first SBC defeat

The Huron Tigers used hot shooting to build an early lead and held on to beat Vermilion, 61-56, to ruin the Sailors’ unblemished conference record.

Vermilion’s perfect conference record is no more.

The host Sailors trailed by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, only to valiantly trim the deficit down to one. But Huron senior Casey Vancauwenbergh scored five of his 13 points in the final two minutes to lead the Tigers to a 61-56 Sandusky Bay Conference upset Feb. 16.

“A lot of games have been just like that,” Huron coach Bobby James said. “Last Friday, we were beating Clyde by 17 points and they came back and hit a last-second shot to beat us.

“Sometimes when you’re losing, you find ways to lose. I was just hoping we’d catch a break somewhere to answer their run. … I thought our kids did a great job at the end of the fourth quarter.”

Huron (6-11) held a 5039 lead early in the fourth quarter before Vermilion (17-4, 11-1) started to mount its comeback.

The Sailors’ offense finally got going and with the combination of free throws and five points from Eli Belak to close the gap down to two, 52-50. A three-point play by Reese Miller made it

a 54-53 game with 2:27 left in regulation.

Enter Vancauwenbergh, who buried a 3 from the top of the key and a pair of free throws after a Sailors miss to push the lead back out to 59-53. Joby Pfeil (22 points) buried a 3 to slice the deficit in half. But a missed 3 by Vermilion and a lay-up by Michael Hurst sealed the Tigers’ win.

“We didn’t decide to compete until the fourth quarter,” Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl said. “Ultimately when you’re trying to come back down from (11) against a team that’s playing pretty well, you’re going to be in trouble. Sure enough, we waited too long and we were in trouble and lost the basketball game.”

The Tigers’ shooting efficiency from the outset put the Sailors on their heels defensively. Using screenand-rolls, the Tigers were presented with a bevy of open looks. They knocked them down at a blistering rate. They were 21 of 32 from the field in the first three quarters to hold a 47-36 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“We weren’t rotating very fast,” Habermehl said. “They did hit a lot of open shots, which that’s a problem defensively for us when we’re giving up that many open shots. Give them credit, They knocked down the shots they’re supposed to.”

Hurst led the Tigers with 18 points, with nine of them coming in the third quarter to help the Tigers increase their lead. It was the play of Hurst and Vancauwenbergh in the second half that James has been looking for.

“Give our seniors credit, they really took control of the game in the fourth quarter and that is what we always needed them to do.” James said.

Seth Hurd, who battled foul trouble in the fourth quarter, was the only other Vermilion player to reach double digits with 11. Though Huron had just five wins coming into the game, Habermehl knew they have been playing well lately. While the loss is tough, Habermehl knows what they need to do.

“We’ve got to forget about it and get back to playing our basketball,” Habermehl said.

“We’ll bounce back and get ready for Sandusky next week and we’ll get ready to play a good basketball game.”