Trailing early, Sturgis rallied for a halftime lead, then held off several second-half challenges by Three Rivers to get a 65-52 home win in a Wolverine South Division showdown Friday night.
“I’ve always been a big believer that you can always get off to a slow start and claw your way back into the contest,” Trojan coach Keith Kurowski said. “They had us on our heels early, they got out in transition and we were afraid of that. But we settled down, got back to our bread and butter, our matchup 2-3 zone. It helped kick-start out offense in the second quarter.”
The Wildcat took an early 11-2 lead after a layup by Gavin Charvat off a feed from Tirrell Hausmanis. The Trojans closed the gap to 13-10 on a jumper by Thomas Kurowski with just under two minutes to go in the period. But a late run allowed the Wildcats to build the lead back to 21-13.
“It was one of those games, jumped our first quarter, we looked good, running our offense,” Wildcat coach Brian Burg said. “Then all of a sudden we made (some) turnover and they transitioned it into an easy bucket and the next thing you know they had momentum and we had an uphill battle from there.”
Sturgis slowly battled back finally taking the lead on a 3-pointer by Sam Leck after a offensive rebound and feed from Dalton Smith. Kurowski and Leck added buckets top get the Trojan lead to 36-33 at halftime
“We wanted to come out and show we could beat our rival and protect our home floor,” coach Kurowski said. “So this game had some extra motivation. I also think the loss to Paw Paw was some motivation. Lets just saw the last two days were some spirited practices.”
It went back to turnovers for Burg.
“What really hurt us in the second quarter was eight turnovers,” Burg said.We had the lead, up 29-24 with four minutes to go and they went on a run. That killed us.”
Sturgis jumped out to a 45-35 lead just past the midpoint of the third quarter. Kurowski, who finished with a career-high 28 points, was leading the charge.
“Thomas played his best game of the year,” coach Kurowski said. “He hit some big shots for us, took care of the ball. I’m proud of him as a coach and a father.”
Burg threw his best defender on him, but the younger Kurowski was still able to score.
“Give Kurowski’s son credit, he put together a game,” Burg said. “We couldn’t really stop him it seemed like. We put our best defender Gavin (Charvat) on him and he still got by him.”
Three Rivers fought back to make the deficit four, 50-46, heading into the final eight minutes.
“We got the lead down to 50-46 going into the fourth quarter, had the momentum, then all of a sudden, six turnovers in that fourth quarter,” Burg said.
Sturgis got five points from Kurowski and four from Leck for a 9-0 run to start the final quarter. It was 59-46 with 4:17 to go in the game.
Leck chipped in with 15 points to aid the Trojan attack, Brecken Stewart added 11, Mark Diaz scored four, Logan Wiard had three and Drew Murphy and Smith each had two.
Charvat led the Wildcats with 14 points, Hausmanis tallied 12, Parker Ellifritz and Jalen Heivilin each added nine, Riley Garver scored four and Brendan Brown and Nolan Mark each had two.
Centreville 58, Hartford 54
Centreville held off Hartford for a 58-54 win on Friday night.
“We controlled the game well in the first half, but we struggled with good defense and offensive sets in the second half,” Bulldogs coach Mike Hunter said “I was proud of how the guys held their composure and played our game. They made crucial shots when they needed to and got a better handle on the defense to hold on and come away with a victory. “
Centreville led 12-7 after one quarter. The Bulldogs posted 20 points, their highest in any quarter for the game, in the second and built a lead of 32-24 at the break.
Hartford was able to climb right back into the game in the third, holding a five-point advantage (18-13) that allowed them to trail by just three points, 45-42, heading into the final eight minutes.
There, Centreville scored just enough to hold off the Indians and secure the win.
Kyzer Bowen led the Bulldogs with 14 points, Ross Hunter tossed in 13 with five rebounds while Hayden Stauffer chipped in 12 points while hauling in six boards.
McClain Lemings added eight points and eight rebounds, Jared Rank added six points, both Nick Weber and Trenton Kindig had two while Sam Todd added a free throw, handed out six assists and hauled in five rebounds.
Marcellus 68, Eau Claire 38
Marcellus picked up a 68-38 win over Eau Claire in prep hoops on Friday night.
The Beavers led 13-10 after one quarter of action, but a strong 15-7 advantage for the Wildcats in the second quarter gave Marcellus a 25-20 advantage at the break.
Marcellus poured in 26 in the third while holding Eau Claire to just 12, that blew the game wide open as the Wildcats built a lead of 51-32.
Eli Robinson and Zach Shelton each had 14 for the Wildcats, Jack Sumners added 13 while Kaeler Stafne tossed in 11. Trevor Henry chipped in with nine points, Dillion Small added four and Carson Sumners added three.
Brandon Watson contributed to this report.