Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Saturday

February 11, 2012

Titans end Petoskey’s streak

Northmen lose first league game in nearly three years

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — The streak stopped at 29.

Petoskey's winning streak in the Big North Conference — dating back to Feb. 27, 2009 — came to an end on Friday as host Traverse City West beat the Northmen 58-51.

"It's hard to put into perspective what they accomplished," Titans coach Brett Graham said. "To go through the league for 29 straight games in our conference is really a great accomplishment. My hat's off to them for that. But for right now, I'm just really happy for our kids and proud of them."

TC West (10-6, 7-3 BNC) got the win without starting center Trevor Commissaris, who missed the game with an ankle injury.

"It means a ton," West senior Graeme Placek said. "Not being able to beat them in quite awhile, and we had Trevor out with an injury, people had to step up. They did. We played tough. They're a very tough team and we had to out-tough them."

For Petoskey (15-1), it was the first loss of the season. And it was the first league loss since a 34-33 defeat at Gaylord during the 2009 season.

"We've had to go into places like this, and Cadillac, and other places for two and a half years and win tough road games," Northmen coach Dennis Starkey said. "To do it as long as we've done it is a great accomplishment to all the guys that were a part of those three teams. Obviously, we wanted to keep it going, but I'm proud of what they've done to this point. And I'm sure they'll play well the rest of the season."

Petoskey already has a share of this year's Big North title and can win it outright at home against Ogemaw Heights next Friday.

"We've still got a two-game lead in the league," Starkey said. "And this will probably make us a better team in March." While TC West never trailed in the game, both teams came alive in the fourth quarter. Petoskey trailed 32-26 at the end of the third, but knocked down 3-pointers from Jake Mullin and Zak Lewis, plus a basket from Sam Baumgartner to make it 35-34 just a minute into the quarter.

West, though, would answer.

Titans junior Walter Borkovich was held scoreless for the first three quarters, but hit three 3-points in the fourth. All of them came right after a Petoskey basket to regain momentum.

"I just tried to keep my confidence," Borkovich said. "Coach said to keep shooting and everyone was encouraging. I knew we needed some big shots, so I tried my best and they went in."

"Walter's a shooter, and shooters shoot," Graham said. "His last one coaches probably don't encourage you to shoot the corner three with a minute to go up seven, but he's a confident shooter. He's worked hard."

Donny Cizek also had a big fourth quarter for West with seven of his 12 points in the final period. He also added five rebounds and five assists.

"Donny is first of all a tremendous young man, and secondly a really smart, heady basketball player," Graham said. "He's been hurt for the last two years, but you can start to see him start to get some of his spring back. He knows when to turn it on. He played his heart out tonight, like all my guys."

Petoskey got a boost around the 5-minute mark when senior Joe Robbins returned to the court. Robbins was in foul trouble the whole game and had been on the bench since early in the third. He would only make it a couple of minutes, though, as Cizek drew Robbins' fifth foul while passing through a screen on the perimeter with West holding a 54-47 lead.

"Joe's been playing good basketball for us all year, but especially lately," Starkey said. "Everyone is paying attention to Jake and Zak, so Joe has carried us in a number of ball games lately. Not having him in there made us a different team."

TC West also had foul trouble in the second half with Kendrick Meyer, who picked up his fifth just 14 seconds after Robbins exited.

Meyer, though, had a huge first half for the Titans with seven points — including a late 3-pointer to give West its 24-14 lead at the break. He was in the starting lineup for Commissaris.

"Kendrick's come a long way," Graham said. "He's new to us this year and I think it took him awhile to get used to our guys and the way we play. But he's played well for us now three games in a row. Trevor was in foul trouble the last two games. Not that I'd ever want Trevor to not be available, but those two games may have helped us today, because Kendrick had to play extended minutes with Trevor sitting on the bench in foul trouble. You could see his confidence growing out there tonight."

Petoskey's 10-point deficit at the half came with eight turnovers

"We just didn't play very well in the first half," Starkey said. "West did a great job pressuring the ball, but that wasn't unexpected. That's what we had been preparing to play against. Obviously the second half it was the same pressure and we played better. They punched us, but we didn't punch back until it was too late."

Placek and Lewis spent the majority of the game guarding each other. Lewis had a team-high 14 points for the Northmen while Placke led the Titans with 19 points and five rebounds.

"I respect Zak a lot," Placek said. "He's a great player. I think we share a lot of the same qualities, so it's really fun to play against him. I wish the best of luck to him. But this is a big win because I love playing against him."

TC West won the JV game 54-46 behind 17 points from Alex Scott, 13 from Jonny Wheelock and nine points each from Dillon Luna and Chris Pearl.

Petoskey's freshmen won 58-40. West had 17 points from Stephen Sheppard and eight points from Jeff Turnquist.

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