Kingston’s Aaron VanHorn goes up for the layup in traffic.
By Tom Gilchrist
Sports Editor
KINGSTON — If Deckerville tried to slow down Kingston’s Aaron VanHorn here Monday night, teammate Travis Tucker put his foot on the accelerator.
Tucker scored 20 points — including 13 in the second quarter — to help the Cardinals run past Deckerville, 56-36, in the North Central Thumb League opener for both teams.
“I think Deckerville really extended its defense tonight and I think (Deckerville coach Adam Klee) had a game plan to take VanHorn away from us, and he did a pretty good job of it,” said Kingston coach Dave Lester.
“Travis Tucker stepped up, though. He’s kind of an underrated player. He’s able to shoot the three or go to the basket, and he did both tonight.”
Tucker hits a trio of 3-point shots in the second quarter to power Kingston to a 32-20 halftime lead. The Eagles hung around, though, cutting the deficit to nine points midway through the third quarter.
“We were down nine … and we just kind of made some bad passes where it slipped away from us,” Klee said. “We had an opportunity to win the game all the way into the third quarter.”
Deckerville’s 6-foot-6 center Nathan Spaetzel led the Eagles with 14 points, including 12 in the first half.
“We were not happy with what (Spaetzel) did in the first half,” Lester said. “We just did not have position on him. I thought Jared Koehler did a great job defending him in the second half.”
Deckerville’s Keegan Boweran tossed in nine of his 11 points in the second half, while Dylan Pattullo scored four for Deckerville.
“We work a lot of offense around Nathan (Spaetzel) and when shots aren’t falling, we need to find guys that can score,” Klee said. “Foul trouble hurt us a lot. Some of main shooters were on the bench. We just have to clean up our play on defense and keep our scorers on the floor.”
VanHorn finished with eight points for Kingston, 1-1 overall and headed to Carsonville-Port Sanilac on Thursday. Riley Magiera added six for the Cardinals.
Deckerville, also 1-1, hosts Mayville on Thursday.
Mayville 54, Carsonville-Port Sanilac 30: The Wildcats won their season opener Monday at home behind 21 points and 10 rebounds from Dalton Bailey. Andrew Morrison added 11 points and seven assists for Mayville, with Jared Hoag scoring nine points and Brevon Wiley tallying seven. The Wildcats visit Deckerville on Thursday.
USA 63, Caro 47: The Patriots won their first road game of the season Monday night against the Tigers. “We are a pretty young team, and we might have been a little nervous, so it was nice to pick up this win on the road,” said Patriots coach Mark Gainforth. Mike Kemp led USA with 16 points, while Aaron Saenz and Hunter Bohn each added 14.
North Huron 59, Owen-Gage 53: Jacob Wright of Owen-Gage scored a game-high 31 points on Monday night, including 22 in the second half, though the Warriors pulled out the victory at Owendale. David Binder added 16 for Owen-Gage. The Bulldogs trailed 31-21 at halftime but closed the gap, trailing only 41-40 in the third quarter before North Huron reeled off seven straight points to end the quarter. Justin Clark led North Huron with 14 points. Owen-Gage, 1-3, won’t play until after the Christmas break when it returns to action Jan. 6 hosting Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy.
Akron Farigrove 46, Burton Faith 16: The Vikings used a 17-2 run in the first quarter and cruised to the non-conference win Tuesday night. Akron jumped out to a 30-9 halftime lead, and held Burton Faith to seven second-half points en route to the victory. Dylan Polk led the Vikings by scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards. Jeremy Verhelle scored 12 points, Austin Carter had 10 and Daylen Hebert added 10 rebounds.