Defense Paces Cardinals in Victory
MILLINGTON – Defense and free-throws usually seem to win basketball games, especially close games. This was the case on Tuesday night in Millington. The Cardinals boy’s basketball team shot 75% from the free throw line and created 25 turnovers en route to a 53-43 victory over the Imlay City Spartans.
“I was pleased that we played the style of game that we wanted to play, and force them to play at our tempo,” stated Millington Coach Walt Kujat. “We wanted to push the ball and get after it on defense. We have guys who just love to work on defense.”
Millington’s up-tempo style of play set the tone for them in the first quarter. A balanced scoring attack gave them an 11-7 lead after one quarter. Senior Tyler Reinert and senior point guard Kyle Hemingway each scored four points in the quarter. Reinert finished the game with a team-high and season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Hemingway finished with eight points.
“Tyler is our floor leader,” said Kujat of Reinert’s performance. “He has the most game experience. We do a better job when we get the ball out of his hands and then come back to him. His teammates are showing a lot of patience in getting him the ball in the correct situations.
“I think they came out and played attacking defense, and I give them a lot of credit,” said Imlay City Coach Rick Finkbeiner. “I do not think we played very well, but that is partly because of them. I give Millington a lot of credit. They stayed focused and they hustled. They played really good defense.”
In the second quarter of the game, Imlay City and Millington would trade baskets throughout the quarter as Millington increased it lead by two with a halftime score of 23-17. Senior Darren Saunders paced Imlay City in quarter by scoring four of his five points.
Imlay City came out of the locker room at half-time determined to use their size advantage against the Cardinals. They did just that, as junior Aaron Thompson led his team by scoring 11 of his game-high 21 points. Imlay City would cut the deficit to 29-27 at the 2:55 mark of the quarter, but Millington picked the tempo back up and outscored the Spartans 8-4 the rest of the way to keep the lead at six with a 37-31 score.
“They started to break our press a little bit, and tried to slow the game down,” said Kujat of Imlay City’s third quarter. “They started to make better decisions.”
“Our game plan was to take the ball inside,” stated Finkbeiner. “We wanted to use our size advantage.”
Millington put the game away in the fourth quarter by hitting 11 of 14 from the charity stripe, including junior Michael Tisdale’s four for four performance. Tisdale finished the game with seven points.
“Reinert said going into the locker room that free throws won the game for us,” said Kujat. “I don’t know if we could beat these guys in a half-court game, but in a full-court game we won. We convinced them to play our style of basketball tonight.”
Millington 53 – Allard 0 0-0 0, Reinert 6 6-6 19, Berlin 2 2-2 6, Werner 0 0-0 0, Hemingway 4 0-2 8, Williams 2 1-2 6, Tisdale 1 4-4 7, Willson 1 0-0 3, Thygesen 0 0-0 0, Morrison 0 0-0 0, Petzold 1 2-4 4, Gregory 0 0-0 0, Stewart 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 15-20 53.
Imlay City 43 – Van Dyk 3 0-0 6, Tietz 0 0-0 0, Goertler 1 0-0 2, Thompson 8 5-5 21, Lesniak 0 0-0 0, Maldonado 1 2-5 4, Saunders 2 1-3 5, Freel 0 0-0 0, Kramek 0 0-0 0, Kaikkonen 0 0-0 0, Ebert 2 1-4 5, Rauckis 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 9-17 43.
Millington 11 12 14 16 -- 53
Imlay City 7 10 14 12 -- 43
3-point goals – Millington: Reinert, Williams, Tisdale, Willson. Imlay City: none.
JV score: Imlay City won 62-58.
“I was pleased that we played the style of game that we wanted to play, and force them to play at our tempo,” stated Millington Coach Walt Kujat. “We wanted to push the ball and get after it on defense. We have guys who just love to work on defense.”
Millington’s up-tempo style of play set the tone for them in the first quarter. A balanced scoring attack gave them an 11-7 lead after one quarter. Senior Tyler Reinert and senior point guard Kyle Hemingway each scored four points in the quarter. Reinert finished the game with a team-high and season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Hemingway finished with eight points.
“Tyler is our floor leader,” said Kujat of Reinert’s performance. “He has the most game experience. We do a better job when we get the ball out of his hands and then come back to him. His teammates are showing a lot of patience in getting him the ball in the correct situations.
“I think they came out and played attacking defense, and I give them a lot of credit,” said Imlay City Coach Rick Finkbeiner. “I do not think we played very well, but that is partly because of them. I give Millington a lot of credit. They stayed focused and they hustled. They played really good defense.”
In the second quarter of the game, Imlay City and Millington would trade baskets throughout the quarter as Millington increased it lead by two with a halftime score of 23-17. Senior Darren Saunders paced Imlay City in quarter by scoring four of his five points.
Imlay City came out of the locker room at half-time determined to use their size advantage against the Cardinals. They did just that, as junior Aaron Thompson led his team by scoring 11 of his game-high 21 points. Imlay City would cut the deficit to 29-27 at the 2:55 mark of the quarter, but Millington picked the tempo back up and outscored the Spartans 8-4 the rest of the way to keep the lead at six with a 37-31 score.
“They started to break our press a little bit, and tried to slow the game down,” said Kujat of Imlay City’s third quarter. “They started to make better decisions.”
“Our game plan was to take the ball inside,” stated Finkbeiner. “We wanted to use our size advantage.”
Millington put the game away in the fourth quarter by hitting 11 of 14 from the charity stripe, including junior Michael Tisdale’s four for four performance. Tisdale finished the game with seven points.
“Reinert said going into the locker room that free throws won the game for us,” said Kujat. “I don’t know if we could beat these guys in a half-court game, but in a full-court game we won. We convinced them to play our style of basketball tonight.”
Millington 53 – Allard 0 0-0 0, Reinert 6 6-6 19, Berlin 2 2-2 6, Werner 0 0-0 0, Hemingway 4 0-2 8, Williams 2 1-2 6, Tisdale 1 4-4 7, Willson 1 0-0 3, Thygesen 0 0-0 0, Morrison 0 0-0 0, Petzold 1 2-4 4, Gregory 0 0-0 0, Stewart 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 15-20 53.
Imlay City 43 – Van Dyk 3 0-0 6, Tietz 0 0-0 0, Goertler 1 0-0 2, Thompson 8 5-5 21, Lesniak 0 0-0 0, Maldonado 1 2-5 4, Saunders 2 1-3 5, Freel 0 0-0 0, Kramek 0 0-0 0, Kaikkonen 0 0-0 0, Ebert 2 1-4 5, Rauckis 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 9-17 43.
Millington 11 12 14 16 -- 53
Imlay City 7 10 14 12 -- 43
3-point goals – Millington: Reinert, Williams, Tisdale, Willson. Imlay City: none.
JV score: Imlay City won 62-58.
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