Big third quarter run fuels Mackinaw City to 72-30 district semifinal win over Pellston
By JARED GREENLEAF
sports@cheboygantribune.com
PELLSTON — Even with a 21-16 halftime lead over Pellston, Mackinaw City boys’ basketball coach John Martin was not happy.
“I might’ve gotten a little angry in the locker room at halftime,” said Martin, whose team struggled with turnovers and inefficient play in the first half. “I hope that maybe spurred them on.”
It’s safe to say his players took his message well.
The Comets, led by senior guards Jonah Robbins and Matt Rivera, outscored the Hornets by a 23-3 margin in the third quarter to take control and cruise to a 72-30 victory in a MHSAA Class D District 122 semifinal in Pellston on Wednesday night.
“Playing Pellston on their home floor, you better be ready, and obviously we were not,” Martin added of his team, which ended up holding a commanding 44-19 lead at the end of three. “We overlooked them and it showed on every aspect how we played them that first half.”
Despite the erratic play in the opening two quarters, the Comets (16-5) were able to push the ball at a faster rate in the second half, resulting in several easy buckets on the offensive end. The Comets capped off a 27-1 stretch—one that went from 1:30 left in the second quarter to the end of the third quarter—with a bucket from Anthony Elliott, pushing their advantage to 44-17.
“That’s the way we’ve gotta play,” Martin said of his team’s ability to play at a quicker pace. “As you see, we don’t settle very well. We like to get out and run, we have a bunch of athletes, and we’ve gotta use them.
“We were horrible in the first half, but we did a much better job in the second half of getting out and running. That run we had was obviously the game changer.”
The Hornets (3-18) got off to a bright start in the contest, taking a 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, with the game tied at 14, the Hornets surrendered a quick 7-2 Mackinaw City run before the end of the half due to turnovers and bad shooting.
When the Comets pounced on them with a giant spurt in the third, the Hornets did everything they could but didn’t have an answer.
“The game plan was very simple—we had to keep the final score in the 40s, we had to be patient, we were gonna make them shoot threes to beat us,” said Pellston coach Larry Cassidy. “I thought in the first half—21-16—that’s what we had to do. We knew they were talented, we knew they wanted to run, and they got a couple of quick ones in the second half.
“We did everything we could, but their athleticism just took over.”
Despite the defeat, Cassidy said his team left it all on the floor in its final game of the season.
“The thing that I told the kids in the locker room is that when somebody opens up the paper tomorrow and they go, ‘Pellston got drilled,’ I’m gonna say my kids gave me everything they had,” Cassidy added. “I think their tanks were almost empty at halftime. I didn’t want to tell them that, but they worked so hard in that first half.
“They just ran out of gas.”
Mackinaw City, which will meet Alanson for the district title in Pellston at 7 p.m on Friday, also received 11 points from Anthony Elliott and eight from Carson Hartman.
With a victory over Alanson on Friday, the Comets will clinch their first district crown since 2008, and it would also mark the first time both the Mackinaw City boys and girls’ basketball teams would have earned a district crown in the same season.
“It would be huge,” Martin said of his squad potentially hoisting a district crown. “For this group of boys, I can’t even describe how that would feel for them.
“For guys like Jonah (Robbins) and Matt (Rivera), it would be huge. It’s a huge thing for that group of seniors.”
Will Friend led Pellston with nine points while teammate AJ LaCombe added five.