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Alwaysteaching,no matterthe score

Things can often look dif-ferent from the standsthan they do from thesidelines.

Take Steve Vinson forinstance.

Vinson, who is the coach forthe Ann Arbor Huron girlsbasketball team, could be one ofthe most intense people I haveever met before.

When hes coaching at least.After the game, hes a differ-

ent person. He smiles. He jokes.Hes ready to give you a pat onthe back.

But when hes coaching,youd swear someone put thumbtacks in his loafers.

He looks mad almost all thetime.

There have been some gameswhere Im shocked that he stillhas hair at the end of the gamebecause it looked like he wasgoing to pull it all out while pac-ing along the sidelines.

During a recent game againstSaline, I looked over at thecoach after his team missed itsfourth layup of the first quarterand I thought he was crying.

He wasnt. He just had hisface in his hands, somewhatdisgusted.

In the waning moments ofthe game he was up and yellinginstructions to his team.

Box out, Kelcy!Alexis, you have to go up

strong!Huron won that game by 21

points. Realistically the gamewas never in jeopardy after thesecond quarter.

But, there was Vinson,screaming right up until thefinal horn.

This is where things can gethazy.

To a person in the stands,Vinson might seem like a jerk.

Maybe he comes off as somekind of frustrated old ballplayer trying to relive his glorydays as a micromanaging coach.

Hes been criticized for beingoverly critical and always find-ing something wrong with histeams play, even when they winbig.

Some might ask why hedoesnt just sit down and letthe girls be. At the very least,when the game is decided, whydoesnt he just be quiet and letthe girls play?

Thats a reasonable question.And I would respond to that

reasonable question with aquery of my own: Is the Huronbasketball team perfect?

The answer to that is obvi-ously no. The team is far fromperfect.

So, if the team still has thingsto work on, and Vinson wantsto teach while on the court, whydoes the score ever matter?

Just because the team is win-ning doesnt make them a greatteam. Vinson realizes this.

Vinson also has the foresightto see that blowout wins overteams like Saline dont mean awhole lot in the grand schemeof his vision.

Vinson wants to win statechampionships.

He wants to make the Hurongirls basketball program thebest it can be, and that meansthat he cant waste a singleopportunity to help make thembetter. And if that means con-tinuing to coach a game thatseemingly already in the win

Eagles take down Adrian 70-50 inSoutheastern Conference crossover

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Skyline boys blow out BulldogsBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

After a draining, emotional,come-from-behind win againstBedford, Skyline boys bas-ketball coach Mike Lovelacewasnt surewhat to expectwhen his teamhosted Adrianlast Tuesdaynight.

This was apossible gamewhere we couldhave played alittle bit lessand let down,Lovelace said.So we really challenged theteam to try to stay focused andbring the intensity.

Its safe to say that the Eaglesanswered their coachs chal-lenge.

Skyline defeated Adrian 70-50, capping off the teams first20-point victory of the season.

Its our first big win. Itwas a big blowout win for us,Skyline junior Theron Wilsonsaid. That Bedford game really

took a lot out ofus.

The game wasclose from thebeginning as thetwo teams traded

the lead backand forth. Then,with 1:45 left inthe first quarter,Skyline sopho-more TravonnBanks hit a layup

and was fouled. He nailed thefree throw to put the Eagles up12-10.

Skyline never gave the leadback.

The Eagles offense kept

things moving, hitting theMaples from all over the floor.

Skyline showed off someslick outside shooting, nailingnine 3-pointers throughout thecourse of the game.

The team also had a stronginside presence, as Wilson andjunior Jarrius Mann both threwdown dunks.

Skyline extended its lead to39-27 by halftime, but the teambrought out the big guns in thethird quarter.

The Eagles opened the secondhalf by going on a 9-0 run.

In the end, the Eagles lim-ited the Maples to just twofield goals and a free throw inthe third quarter, outscoringAdrian 21-5 in the third.

The second half was a hugestart for us, Lovelace said. Wemade a committment at half-time to really come out strong,and we did.

In the fourth, the Maplesgained some ground, but it wastoo late as the Eagles coasted to Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Skylines Jarrius Mann drives to the hoop last week in a gameagainst Adrian. Skyline won 70-50.

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Hail, hail HuronRiver Rat boys take downSaline in SEC battle

Lady Hornets cant keep up with RatsHuron girlsdefeat

Saline 57-26

By Dave MerchantA2 Journal

When one of the top ranked teamsin the state who also happens to be aleague opponent comes knocking onthe door, all one can do is open it andhope for the best.On Friday night the Saline Hornets

opened the door toAnn Arbor

Huronand wereshownexactly

why theRiverRats are

one of thebest teams in

the Great LakeState with a 71-61 win over an

improved Saline team.The game was very physical and

hard played right from the start.There were two technical fouls inthe game and one flagrant foul.River Rat coach Waleed Samahasaid the matchup was a typicalhard-fought game between twofamiliar league foes.

It was a physical game withthe kids playing hard,

Samaha said. Ithought we did

a good job of

attacking thepress especial-ly with the twoshooters theyhave. Theirshootersattacked usreally well.

The Salineshooters were

Reece Dils, who

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

Whatever Huron girlsbasketball coach SteveVinson said to his team athalftime of Friday nightsgame against Saline, itworked.

The River Rats, whocame into Fridays gameagainst the Hornets atop theSoutheastern ConferenceRed division standings,struggled to build much ofa lead against the upstartteam from Saline in the firsthalf.

However, after the break,

Huron busted the game wideopen, eventually winning theconference contest 57-26

In the first quarter, neitherteam was able to get much

going.In fact, it was two and a half

minutes into the game beforeHurons Kelcy Barott scored thegames first field goal.

The River Rats couldntget into a rhythm against theHornets as the team missed sixlayups in the first quarter.

We couldnt get it going tostart, Vinson said. We justwerent converting.

In the second quarter, theRiver Rats started to breakaway, thanks to a 15-3 run tostart the frame.

By halftime, Huron had builtup a 29-15 lead, but it wasnt

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Photo by

Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Huron seniorChristianaAllen standsnext toSalinesCaitlin Ellisas the pairwait for a freethrow.Huron tookdown Salinein a blowout,57-26.

finished with 20 points, andDavid Hendrickson, whoscored 18, including fourtriples.We are doing the rightthings to win the games,Hendricksonsaid. Weknow we

can playwith anyone.They are oneof the bestteams in thestate andI think weplayed hard.Salinecoach JayPlitzuweitsaid he liked some of thethings he saw from his teamon Friday night, especiallyconsidering the quality oppo-nent they faced.The kids were competinghard, Plitzuweit said. Youhave to have consistency andthe fundamentals. I think ourkids are gaining some confi-dence.Plitzuweit said the Hornetshave been playing good bas-ketball.

They are a good team andvery talented, he said. Theytry and make you play franticand they like to trap all overthe floor.Jesse Buchsbaum led Huron

with 17 points and AJMathew scored 13.Buchsbaum, a 6-foot, 10-inchsenior, had a strong game atboth ends of the floor for theRiver Rats.

I thought weplayed wellon defense,

Buchsbaumsaid. Ourdefense leadsus to our transi-tion game.He said theteams topobjective is toget back to thestate champi-onship at the

Breslin Center and this timewin it all. Every game is abig game at Huron, he said.This was a big conferencewin for us. Our goal is to playstrong and win it all.Hurons Kyle Baker gave histeam a 4-2 lead early on witha short jumper. Hendricksonsank the first triple of thegame to put Saline up 5-4with 5:05 to play in the firstquarter.After Dils hit two from thecharity stripe after a Hurontechnical foul, the home teamwent up 10-5. Huron foughtback and tied it at 15 to endthe first quarter.

Photo by Hiroshi Onuma/A2

JOURNAL

Hurons A.J. Mathewdrives to the basketduring last Fridaysgame against Saline.

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a 70-50 win.I have a really good vision

of how good they could be,Lovelace said of his team. AndIm trying to convince themhow good they can be. But theyare starting to see that if theyreally work hard, they can be areally special team.

The Eagles had four playersscore in double digits in thewin, as Sakthi Sambandan ledthe way with 17, Wilson added13, Peter Bakker scored 11 andBanks scored 10.

Other Skyline scorers wereMann with eight, Jackie Liaowith four, Jordan Woods, JackClark and Torrey Juide all withtwo and Evan Anderson withone.

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column, so be it.The way that he sees it,

maybe a player will learn some-thing during those meaning-less moments, and it will makeher a better player for a gamedown the stretch that might notbe so easy.

So he yells a lot. So what?I once had a coach who told

me, Mike, dont worry aboutif I yell at you. Worry when Istop yelling at you. Because thatmeans Ive given up on you.

Vinson reminds me a lot of

that coach.His purpose is to make his

team play at the highest levelpossible, not just for a game,but until the very end. And hesdoing that.

Is Steve Vinson an ever-critical coach? If ever-criticalmeans hes going to demandperfection from his teamand not stop until they haveachieved all they are capable of,then, yeah, I guess he is.

But trust me, there are worsethings out there than a coachwho cares so much hes ready topull his hair out.

Mike Larson can be reachedby email at Mlarson@A2Journal.com.

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Where theres a Wilson...

theres a wayBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

The Skyline boys basketballteam wasnt supposed to bethat good.

How could they be?They are a team made up

of juniors andsophomores.

As the team

prepared toplay its firstseason in theSoutheasternConference,you couldalmost hearplayers aroundthe area lickingtheir lips.

There were,no doubt, some players andcoaches who were automati-cally penciling their gameagainst the Eagles as a win theday they saw it on the sched-ules.

After all, they are justjuniors and sophomores.

The team would belucky to win a game in theSoutheastern Conference.

Right?Wrong.The Skyline basketball team

is proving night in, and nightout that they are going to be atough opponent.

Earlier this season theEagles defeated Bedford inovertime, and then reboundedwith a blowout win overAdrian.

Not too bad for a team ofkids.

We know that we are a good

team, Skyline coach MikeLovelace said after his teamsvictory over Adrian. Weknow what people think whenthey see that we are a newteam to the league, that wedont have any seniors.

Despite the lake of seniors,the Skylineteam hasbeen relying

on a corps ofjuniors to keepthe team com-petitive.

Juniorslike SakthiSambandanand JarriusMann havestepped up,with the help

of sophomores Peter Bakkerand Travonn Banks to lead theteam.

But in Lovelaces eyes, thereis one player who has reallystepped up into a leadershiproll.

Theron Wilson has reallymade strides, Lovelace said.This is his team. He is a lead-er on the floor, and is consis-

tently one of our top scorers.Wilson, a 6-foot, 3-inch

junior, is one of the mostathletic players on the Skyineteam, and it shows.

During the game againstAdrian, Wilson brought theball up the court, called a setplay, passed the ball off to thewing and got a back screen ashe streaked to the basket.

After a perfect pass from ateammate, Wilson grabbed theball from above the rim and

Skylines Theron Wilson emergesas leader of young team

slammed it home.Thats the kind of play

that hes capable of doing,Lovelace said. Hes got agreat vertical leap, and heloves to go up like that.

The play was Wilsons sec-ond dunk of the game.

Its cool to be able to see aplay and then go execute it,he said smiling. Especiallyif its a big dunk.

But Wilson is worth muchmore to the Skyline offensethan just dunks.

The junior is one of theleading scorers in the area,

averaging almost 18 pointsper game.

And his coach thinks hecan do even more.

There are some days whenI see him play and I know thathe can be putting in 25-30 anight, Lovelace said. Hesthat good.

Right now, Wilson hashelped his team to a 4-6 over-all record and a 3-3 mark inthe SEC.

Sure, it might not be great,and the Eagles probablyarent going to win the leaguetitle this season.

But its already a lot morethan some people may havepredicted for the team ofyoungsters.

But those same naysay-ers who thought Skylinewouldnt be that good thisyear have a whole new set ofthings to worry about.

Because next season,Wilson and his teammateswill all be back.

And next season, its a pret-ty safe bet that no one will belooking past Skyline.

Mike Larson can bereached atMlarson@A2Journal.com.

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Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Skylines Theron Wilson goes to the hoop during a recent game against Adrian. Wilson is oneof the teams leading scorers and leaders.

until after the break that the River Ratstook complete control of the game.

In the third quarter, Huron wasbuoyed by Devin Talley and BiancaWilliams early in the frame.

The pair opened the quarter by com-bining for 10 unanswered points.

Saline finally scored in the secondhalf when senior Emily Everett hit a 3-pointer with 5:15 left in the third.

However, by that time, the Hornetstrailed 39-18.

Things only got worse for the Salineteam as the game went on.

In the fourth quarter, Huron out-

scored Saline 16-4 and the River Ratsended the game on a 6-0 run.

Despite the big win, Vinson said histeam still has plentyto work on.

Were being slop-py with the ball, thecoach said. Wellplay good defenseand get a steal, andthen well comedown and we wontexecute. Well throwa pass away or missa layup.One big thing thatirked the coach washis teams turnovers.

Some of the turnovers Im OK with,he said. But I dont think we needed tohave 20 turnovers tonight. Thats just

too many.The Hornets were also plagued withmiscues.

Saline had a hard timeon offense all night, but theteam had an especially roughnight from the free throwline.

The Hornets shot just 30%from the line (5-for-15).

One of the things wereally had to do was competeand be aggressive, Salinecoach Jason Pickett said. Inthe games where weve donethat, weve been successful.We didnt do that tonight.

Williams was the games top scorer, asthe sophomore finished with 18 points.

Other scorers for the River Rats wereTally with 10, Logan Sims with nine,

Barott with eight points, Alexis Garnerwith six, Sara Golidy with four andMarie Villalpando with two.

Jill Borowski, Emily Everett andAmanda Price led the way for Saline asall scored five points.

With the win Huron improves to 8-4overall and 6-1 in the SEC. Saline falls to3-9 overall and 3-5 in conference.

Although the River Rats are still inthe lead of the SEC race, Vinson said histeam cant take anything for granted.

We know at the end of our leagueseason were going to have some toughgames, Vinson said. Weve got to goon the road for three straight, weve gotto play Bedford, Monroe and Pioneer onthe road, So those are going to be toughgames to close out our SEC season.

Mike Larson can be reached byMlarson@A2Journal.com.

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Hurons Bianca Williams is a...

Super sophomoreBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

The Ann Arbor Huron girlsbasketball team has a one-twopunch that most teams dreamabout.

With senior center KelcyBarott taking care of thingsdown low, and junior guardDevin Talley driving and

hitting the outside shots, theHuron offense appears to be ingood hands.

And with an 8-4 overallrecord and a 6-1 mark in theSoutheastern Conference RedDivision, its clear that theRiver Rats are doing some-thing right.

And although Talley (18points per game) and Barott(12.8 ppg) are two of the areasbest scorers, the River Ratsdepth doesnt end there.

Huron has gotten outstand-ing efforts from several play-ers, but recently, one playerhas really stood out.Sophomore Bianca Williamshas been playing very well oflate, helping the River Rats

remain atop the SEC Redstandings.

On Friday the River Ratstook on Saline, and Williamswas a big part of the teams 57-26 blowout of the Hornets.

Williams scored a career-high 18 points for the RiverRats as the team continued itsquest for a league title.

She has really startedplaying well, Huron coachSteve Vinson said of Williams.There are still things sheneeds to work on, but she hasbeen shooting the ball a lotbetter lately. She seems muchmore confident.

Williams has been one of

Hurons best outside shootersthis season, but on Friday, sheadded driving to the basket toher repertoire.

During the game againstSaline, Huron started the thirdquarter by going on a 10-0 run.

Williams accounted for fiveof those points.

I thought we played reallywell as a team, she said after

the game. We could havedone a bit better, but I washappy with the way we workedtogether.

Despite being the games topscorer, Williams was quick togive her teammates credit.

We do everything togetheras a team, she said. Partof what makes this groupso special is we understandwhen one person does well, itsbecause the whole team wasworking to make it happen.Tonight I scored some points,but tomorrow night it willprobably be somebody else.As long as were winning, wedont care.

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Hurons Bianca Williams is making a huge impact this season.