Vikings survive against TC Central

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Cadillac forward John Simons, right, shoots over Traverse City Central center Ben Lewis (44) in the third quarter. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

January 25, 2012

Simons leads Cadillac with 26 in 58-45 win over TC Central

BY DENNIS CHASE dchase@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Jan 25, 2012, 07:43 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — Cadillac led by 16 at half and won by 13.

But those numbers don't tell the story of the Vikings 58-45 victory over Big North Conference basketball rival Traverse City Central on Tuesday.

The Trojans, sparked by an aggressive defense, opened the second half with a 17-4 run to cut the gap to three, making Cadillac work for its eighth win in nine games.

"They (Trojans) played really hard," Vikings senior John Simons said. "They got their hands on a lot of balls. Their defensive pressure really set us back on our heels the second half. We had a bad third quarter, and they made some shots, made some good plays to get back in it."

Simons, though, scored the next six points after Central closed to within 37-34. The Trojans could get no closer than seven the rest of the night.

The win puts Cadillac at 5-1 in the league. Central drops to 1-5, 3-8 overall.

"I thought even in the first half their pressure really made us play east-west and didn't allow us to get north-south very well," Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald said. "So to be up by 16, I felt good about our defense.

"The second half, though, they completely dictated the play. We were lucky they missed some easy shots or it would have been a closer game yet.

"Really, the whole game was frustrating for our kids and I think Traverse City Central deserves credit for that. To our credit, we hung on and made enough plays even when there wasn't much of a good flow for us."

Simons, averaging 30.4 points in league play, led the Vikings with 26 points. He had 16 in the first half when Cadillac went on a 16-3 run to open a double digit cushion, 24-11, in the second quarter.

The lead mushroomed to 18 at one point — Cadillac knocked down four 3-pointers — and it looked like the Vikings had the game in hand.

Not so.

"We challenged our kids at halftime," Central coach Jeff Turner said. "We talked about what we had to do defensively — not let them shoot uncontested 3-pointers. I don't know how many they had in the first half, but it was too many. We felt we had to chase them off the 3-point line.

"We also talked about doing a better job taking care of the ball. And we did cut our turnovers in the second half."

But the 16-point deficit proved too big to overcome. The Trojans were held to six field goals in the opening 16 minutes.

"We got some good looks," Turner said. "We just didn't make the shots. I kept telling the kids, 'You've got to keep shooting, they're going to fall.' In the second half, we got some to fall and made the game interesting."

Ethan Pilarski led the Trojans with 14 points. Ryan Verschuren added 11.

Cadillac, which has played seven of its first nine games on the road, entertains unbeaten and league-leading Petoskey on Friday. The Northmen are ranked No. 8 in Class A. Cadillac is ranked No. 6 in Class B.

"No one (in the league) has beaten them in two and half years," McDonald said. "I don't know if we can, but I'm glad we have the opportunity in a game that means something in terms of the league race. We'll have to play really well to beat them because they're very good. They're used to winning in every sport they play. They're disciplined and well coached."

The Vikings then play at Traverse City West next Tuesday.

Central returns to action Thursday, hosting Alpena. Although disappointed by the loss, Turner was upbeat afterwards.

"They're (Vikings) a good team," he said. "They only have one loss for a reason. We feel like we gave them a battle.

"There are some positives we can take out of this."

Central won the JV game 64-50 as Adam Stepan netted 24 points and Brett Spanski 13.

The Trojans claimed the freshman game 48-29.