Flashes grind way past Tigers

WILLARD — On a bit of a low-energy Monday night at The Haas, Willard had to find a way to keep itself in the league title picture anyway. And after what started as a slow burn, the Flashes got cooking enough in the second half to take care of business. "We know that we're gonna get a lot of teams' best shots," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "Huron's a very good basketball team. They could beat anybody in our league. We're very fortunate to do what we had to do in the second half to get the W." The final margin for Division II No. 10-ranked Willard (14-3, 6-1 SBC Bay) was 61-49 over visiting Huron (7-9, 3-4). With the victory, the Flashes stayed a game back of Margaretta (15-2, 7-0) with the rematch slated for Feb. 16 in Castalia. "We settled early," senior Max Dawson said. "At halftime we talked about getting into the gaps and getting to the hole. That's what we did the second half." Dawson scored just three points in the first half and made one of his first seven shots, but converted on seven of his last nine to finish with a game-high 23 points. "Very familiar with him, coached him in the spring, great kid," Huron coach Toby Miller said. "They did a great job of adjusting and really going in transition against our zone." Huron hit three quick 3-pointers to take an early 11-8 lead. A Jackson Beamer personal 5-0 run ended the first quarter with Willard in front, capping the frame with a left-wing triple at the buzzer. The Flashes kept the lead until halftime, thanks in part to two first-half 3-pointers from Isaac Robinson and eight early points by Cam Robinson. "We need everyone playing well this time of year," Dawson said. "We have guys step up all the time." The 24-20 halftime margin wasn't thrilling to Willard, though, which succumbed to the slower pace Huron wanted by either settling or taking too much time against the Tigers' zone. "We kind of get stagnant if we're not hitting outside shots," Bedingfield said. "... It's great when it goes in, but we'd like to see it go inside-out a little more." After Landon Hohler cut the differential to a point with a 3 out of halftime, Dawson went into attack mode. The lefty did all his scoring inside the arc after halftime — floater, steal layup, putback, step-through layup, pull-up, and-1, pull-up and five foul shots. "Shooting is sometimes my thing, but not tonight," Dawson said. "So I just found a different way to score to give a spark in the second half." An Isaac Robinson 3-pointer pushed Willard up 39-30, but Huron surged back again, beating the third-quarter buzzer with a Charlie Hardy 3 to trail 43-39. "I'm really pleased with the way we played," Miller said. "That's a really good team. They have special players. They're gonna do special things. I was happy with the way we competed." The Tigers pulled within three early in the fourth on a Jackson McNulty make from downtown, but Aiden Slone responded with a 3-pointer of his own to go up six. Huron couldn't get closer than six the rest of the way. Cam Robinson finished with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Isaac Robinson had 11 points and seven boards. Beamer added seven points, and Slone had six. "We talked about busting out and trying to get ahead of the zone," Bedingfield said. "Energy for us wasn't really good tonight. I'm not sure if we thought we were just gonna come out and roll." It wasn't a brilliant night of basketball, but sometimes in pursuit of a league championship, teams need a just-good-enough performance. The Flashes got that Monday night, so they're still in the race. "We have to treat every game in February like a championship game," Bedingfield said. "We talk about that all the time." HURON (7-9, 3-4) Charlie Hardy 4-0—11; Jackson McNulty 5-0—12; Tommie McDonald 4-1—10; Landon Hohler 3-0—8; Grant Periat 3-0—8. TOTALS 19-1—49. WILLARD (14-3, 6-1) Jackson Beamer 1-4—7; Aiden Slone 2-1—6; Max Dawson 8-6—23; Isaac Robinson 4-0—11; Cam Robinson 4-4—14. TOTALS 18-15—61. Huron 11 9 19 10 — 49Willard 13 11 19 18 — 61 3-point FGs: (H) Hardy 3, McNulty 2, Periat 2, Hohler 2, McDonald; (W) I. Robinson 3, Dawson, Beamer, Slone, C. Robinson