Broncos pull away late
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HARRIS -- After a slow start, the Bark River-Harris Broncos boys' basketball team (16-1) turned on the jets to pull away 60-35 over the Manistique Emeralds (4-10) Tuesday night in an MHSAA Division 3 district quarterfinal in Harris.
"We got a little history of not coming out (early in games)," said Broncos coach Marc Zawacki. "This was our first Division 3 district win. We're new in Division 3. I think there was a little bit of nerves involved with the players tonight.
"They've been in these situations. We don't want to get down on teams, but they just relaxed. They never got rattled, and that's something from experience."
The Emeralds came out strong in the opening minutes of the game. Bryce Blixt put up five points in the opening minute for Manistique. Then, Sammy Warren made a three-point play after he was fouled.
Just shy of the four-minute mark of the first quarter, the Emeralds had gone up 15-6.
At the end of the quarter, the Broncos had closed the deficit back to five points, 17-12.
The ball started rolling for the Broncos in the second.
Carter Zawacki tied the game at 22 for the Broncos with 3:23 left in the half. Nick Javurek then hit the go-ahead two for the Broncos. At the half, Bark River led 27-22.
From there, the Broncos never surrendered the lead. In the second half, Bark River outscored the Emeralds 33-13.
"This is the time of year, you don't look past any team, and we were certainly not (tonight)," said coach Zawacki. "It was a tough game. I don't think the score indicated how close the game was throughout the first half."
Javurek (17 points) and Joey Stein (16 points) anchored the Broncos offense.
"Those are hustle points," said coach Zawacki. "They're playing around the rim, put backs, drives, things like that. Those guys have motors that just don't quit, and that's why they're on the scoreboard game after game."
Outside of the leading scorers, coach Zawacki mentioned the performances of Logan Getzloff and Emmanuel Peterson as roleplayers.
"Logan is coming into his role with the team. I may call on you at one point, and you need to be ready. Tonight, Logan answered that call," he said. "We got some really good minutes out of Emmanuel Peterson as well. He's a high-energy guy.
"When we can get those guys good, valuable, minutes, it's going to come back when one of the other guys are having a bad night. These guys need to step up, and they did tonight."
Early in the game, everything was going well for the Emeralds, said coach Cody Kangas.
"We were hitting on all strides. We were doing everything we talked about," Kangas said. "They were in a man defense, which we weren't ready for … but, that man defense is kind of our bread and butter. When we get into that, we're ready to go."
The Emeralds held on for a while once the Broncos switched up their defense, but in the end, it came down to a numbers game, said Kangas.
"(The Broncos) just kind of wear you down," he said. "When we only got six or seven guys, we play because everybody else is underclassmen, they wear you down, and we just couldn't hang with them."
In the third quarter, Wyatt Gierke and Nathan Dechow hit four fouls and were taken out of the game by Kangas. In both cases, freshman were sent into the game to replace the two seniors. A lack of experience became a weakness in the second half, said Kangas.
"Our freshmen group is a great group," he said. "But, it's just that experience level we don't have (with our freshmen)."
The 2020-21 season was a step in the right direction, though, said Kangas -- who wraps up his second year as Emeralds coach.
"With everything thrown in (Covid, low numbers, bringing up young players)…I thought we did well," he said. "(Our seniors) set a foundation and I think that was the big difference for us and why we were more successful this year.
"Hopefully we build from here … it's looking good for the future."
For the Broncos, the Division 3 semifinal takes them to Menominee to battle the Maroons Thursday at 7 p.m. eastern time.
"We're taking it one game at a time," said coach Zawacki. "The first time we talked about Menominee was in (the locker room postgame). We'll put together a gameplan and have a day to implement it and play them on Thursday."
Manistique 17 5 7 6 -- 35
Bark River-Harris 12 15 18 15 -- 60
Manistique -- Warren 10, Dechow 9, Blixt 7, Zellar 4, St. John 3, Gierke 2; F:15; FT: 6-11; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Blixt.
Bark River-Harris -- Javurek 17, Stein 16, Wood-Keshick 8, Zawacki 8, Dylon Lippens 4, Robinette 2, Getzloff 2, Peterson 2, Miley 1; F: 15; FT: 8-20; Fouled out: None.