Flyers edged late at Huron

HURON — St. Paul showed, in a 15-0 first-quarter run and some late surges, that it had every capability of beating Huron on Saturday night. But in the closing stages, the Tigers hit a few too many clutch shots without responses from the Flyers. "Early, we were able to get out and go," St. Paul coach Steve Minor said. "I thought we did a good job of pushing it. Later on, we pulled it back and tried to run some more controlled sets, and we should've just let them go. They were in a good flow." St. Paul (8-3) eventually fell to Huron, 61-54. After getting postponed because of inclement weather Friday night, the Flyers didn't look rusty on Saturday. Nolan McCall led St. Paul with 21 points on 8-for-12 from the floor, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Korey Frazee added 13, and Evan Wangler had 10. "They had a heartbreaker against Norwalk last week," Minor said. "They're dealing with some injuries, too. Their coach is doing a nice job. I hear nothing but good things about him. Hats off to them. We just needed to do a few more things, better, longer." Huron started hot, grabbing a 10-5 lead, but then St. Paul got on a roll. Frazee's second early 3 pulled St. Paul within 10-8. "You cannot allow teams to gain confidence with defensive breakdowns early," Huron coach Toby Miller said. "Frazee, really good shooter, and we just lost him in transition twice to start the game. He makes two and they're all feeling good, believing and making all kinds of shots." Frazee tied it at 10 with a steal and score. Dan Schwan followed with a triple, then McCall scored on the offensive glass and with a 3 of his own before Wangler capped the run with a bucket inside. From there, it was a showdown of two big guys who grew up in the same class in Huron. Jackson McNulty finished with 30 points for the Tigers. The sturdy 6-foot-4 righty relished the matchup with McCall, the 6-foot-6 lefty, and they went at each other for much of the game. "We talked about this at length," Miller said. "This is potentially two first-team all-league guys going against each other, grew up in Huron, same class. You have to be licking your chops. This is fun. This is why you play the game." McNulty had one second-quarter sequence with five consecutive makes for the Tigers (6-6), cutting into St. Paul's big advantage. McCall fired the final first-half salvo, a double-clutch 3-pointer from the right corner for a 32-28 advantage heading to the locker room. "I knew going in how good Nolan was," McNulty said. "It's a matchup everyone wanted to see. He played great." Landon Hohler scored four quick points in the third quarter, which sandwiched around a McNulty putback for a 34-32 Huron lead. McCall answered with a 3-pointer, then Wangler made an and-1, and most of the second half was back and forth. Joe Wood gave Huron the lead on a drive to the hoop, followed by a McNulty 3. But Michael Kirk answered with a midrange jumper and two free throws to send it the fourth at 41-all. Hohler scored again to start the final frame, then Landon Fries found Wangler to tie it. Tommie McDonald floated one for 45-43 Huron, then Kirk drained a 3-pointer for a St. Paul lead with 5:30 to go. A Wangler putback and Frazee 3, with a McNulty jumper in between, made the Flyers' lead 51-47 with three and a half minutes on the clock. McNulty scored on the left block to pull within a bucket, and then it was Charlie Hardy time. The sharpshooting senior hadn't made a shot since a 3-pointer for 8-5 in the first quarter. But down two, he nailed a pull-up jumper from the foul line to tie the game. Then after McNulty made two free throws, Hardy delivered the dagger 3-pointer from the left corner on an accurate swing pass from McDonald. The Tigers made their foul shots late, with St. Paul's only remaining basket coming on a McCall 3-pointer down seven inside 30 seconds. The Flyers (6-1 FC) have two intriguing home contests this week, hosting Tiffin Calvert (10-4) on Wednesday before Mapleton (9-3, 5-2) visits Norwalk on Friday. Senecas coach Jon Otterbacher was in attendance Saturday night checking out St. Paul's squad after Calvert lost a late lead against Hopewell-Loudon on Friday. "We've got a big week coming," Minor said. ST. PAUL (8-3) Michael Kirk 2-2—7; Dan Schwan 1-0—3; Korey Frazee 5-0—13; Nolan McCall 8-0—21; Evan Wangler 5-0—10. TOTALS 21-0—54. HURON (6-6) Charlie Hardy 3-1—9; Joe Wood 1-0—2; Ryan Sas 1-0—3; Jackson McNulty 12-5—30; Grant Periat 1-0—3; Tommie McDonald 1-3—5; Landon Hohler 4-1—9. TOTALS 23-10—61. St. Paul 20 12 9 13 — 54Huron 10 18 13 20 — 61 3-point FGs: (SP) McCall 5, Frazee 3, Schwan, Kirk; (H) Hardy 2, McNulty, Periat