Tigers defeat O’Gorman

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HURON — The Huron Tigers survived a foul-plagued, back-and-forth contest Thursday night, hitting free throws down the stretch and taking advantage the home crowd, to post a decisive 67-53 win over the second ranked O’Gorman Knights at Huron Arena. The game was a make-up contest from Jan. 17, and took place as the season is winding down and games become much bigger.
“This was a big win for us tonight,” said a hoarse coach Jon Schouten after the game. “There isn’t a bigger game - other than a state tournament game - than when you get two good teams playing a game like this one in a venue like Huron Arena.”
Things went about as well as Schouten could have scripted it from the opening tip. The 3/4 court press that Huron refined at Brookings on Tuesday paid dividends from the start against O’Gorman. The Knights were harassed into several turnovers and failed to score until the three-minute mark of the quarter.
Huron on the other hand, was firing from all areas. Free throws from Cooper Fryberger and a long three-point field goal by Kobe Busch put Huron up 5-0. Another basket from Busch, on a nice baseline shot, and a free throw from Evers made it 8-0.
O’Gorman got on the board with a Cole Hardie jumper, but Derick Siemonsma responded with a baseline drive and reverse layup and when Evers made a steal on the press and took it in for a one-hand flush at the 1:20 mark, Huron led 12 and Knight coach Derek Robey called a time-out to calm his team.
The Tigers got an easy bucket on a nifty inbounds play as Hayden Hegg converted the layup, but a late basket from Jack Cartwright cut the margin to nine points, at 14-5, at the quarter break.
The Knights came out refocused in the second quarter, as they scored the first eight points of the period, as they began a march to the free throw line. Nathan Boehrns hit a three at the 4:50 mark, but picked up his second foul of the half, joining Busch, Hegg and Fryberger as the officials called a very tight game.
Boehrns tallied a bucket on another nice inbounds play to put Huron up 19-15, but Cartwright hit another three to cut it to a one-point lead. Fryberger picked up his third foul, and went to the bench at the 3:30 mark and after Akoi gave the Knights their first lead, Busch responded by taking the ball down low for a deuce. O’Gorman got two free throws but Busch posted up and got a finger roll to go.

O’Gorman got two free throws from Cartwright with 15 ticks on the clock and the Knights looked as if they would take a 3-point lead to the locker, but Evers drained a long three off the right wing at the buzzer to knot the score at 26 at the midway point. The most telling stat at the half was that Huron had two players with three fouls and three more with two each, and had hit 3 of their four charity tosses, while O’Gorman shot 14 free throws with only Akoi in foul trouble with two personals.
“I thought that the whistles were inconsistent in the first half,” Schouten noted, “and in the second quarter, we let that bother us. We were settling for jumpers, and when we drove we were expecting the ref to bail us out and they didn’t”
Both teams opened with three pointers to start the second half, the Akoi hit a short jumper to put O’Gorman up 34-31. Busch missed a shot on the next Tiger possession and was whistled for a technical foul as he ran back up the floor. Cartwright hit both free throws and Cade Mikuska hit a baseline jumper to give the Knights a 38-31 lead at the 4:50 mark.
After Boehrns picked up his third foul, Busch hit one of two from the line, before Evers converted conventional three-point plays on back-to-back possessions, then hit two more free throws to put Huron back up, 40-38 with 1:30 in the quarter.
Boehrns hit a three and Hayden Muirhead hit a pair of free throws and a basket and Huron led by a single point, 43-42 after three quarters.
After ending the third period on a 12-4 run, the Tigers kept the momentum in the final stanza, as Fryberger hit a layup, Busch converted a putback and Boehrns hit a pair of charity tosses to counter a pair of Muirhead free throws. Huron led 51-45 at the 2:11 mark when O’Gorman’s Zach Norton picked up a foul on a rebound. Norton must have protested, as he received a technical foul on the play. Evers hit two charity tosses for the foul, Boehrns hit two more for the technical and on the ensuing possession, Evers was fouled and hit two more and suddenly the lead was 12 points, at 57-45 and the game was all but over.
In all, after only seeing four free throws in the first half, Huron went to the line 25 times in the second half, hitting 21 of them, including a 16-18 effort in the final period.
“We attacked much better in the second half and took the ball to the hoop,” Schouten said. “Our experience on the floor made the difference tonight.”
Huron got 20 points and eight boards from Evers, including an 11-12 night at the line. Boehrns scored 18 and Busch tallied 14 before fouling out late in the ballgame. Huron forced 16 O’Gorman turnovers and shot a toasty 58 percent from the field in the game, at hit 83 percent of their free throws.
Cartwright scored 17 points to pace the Knights, who got 14 points and seven rebounds from Akoi. Muirhead added 11 points of coach Derek Robey’s bench in the game.

O’Gorman       5 26 42 53
Huron           14 26 43 67
O’Gorman (12-6) Akoi Akoi 4 5-7 14; Jack Cartwright 5 4-6 17; Zach Norton 1 2-2 5; Reece Arbogast 0 0-1 0; Cake Mikuska 2 0-0 4; Cole Hardie 1 0-0 2; Hayden Muirhead 2 6-10 11. Totals: 15 17-26 53.
Huron (13-4): Hayden Hegg 1 2-2 4; Cooper Fryberger 2 4-6 9; Teegan Evers 4 11-12 20; Kobe Busch 6 1-3 14; NAthan Boehrns 5 6-6 18. Derick Siemonsma 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 24-29 67.
FG: O - 15-40 38%; H - 19-33 58%. 3pt FG: O - 6-22 (Cartwright 3, Akoi, Norton and Muirhead); H - 5-13 (Boehrns 2, Fryberger, Evers and Busch). Rebounds: O - 23 (Akoi 7); H - 24 (Evers 8); Turnovers: O - 16; H - 11. Fouls: O - 23; H 25 (Busch out). Technical fouls: O - Norton; H - Busch.