Panthers take down Midgets for first win of season

HURLEY - Both teams desperately needed a win and Ewen-Trout Creek came up with a 54-35 non-conference victory over Hurley Tuesday night.

Neither team came into the game with a victory. The Panthers lost by a combined six points in their first two games, while Hurley has now lost all of five of its games, none of which they have played at full strength.

"We needed a win in the worst way," E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. "The lingering effects from the end of last season, I think, were carrying into the first two games offensively. To see us knocking down some shots early in the game, I think, settled us in a lot earlier than it had in the first two games."

The Midgets got Jake Tenlen back from a broken collarbone suffered in the last football game, but they were missing Mitchell Maki, who last week suffered a setback with his foot injury, which was also from football.

"The kids are hurting again, we're frustrated. But we just keep talking about getting better everyday; I hope that continues," Hurley coach Mike Swartz said.

Hurley's James Sukanen led all scorers with 18 points, but no one else had more than six and the Midgets shot 1 of 26 from behind the arc. The lone 3-pointer that Hurley made didn't come until the final moments.

"We just couldn't buy a basket from the outside," Swartz said. "We need someone to step up and put the ball in the hole besides No. 32 for us."

The Midgets led early, expanding a 14-13 first-quarter lead to 18-13 and 20-15 in the second quarter.

Alan Goll hit a triple to bring E-TC within 20-18. Landon Maki's basket tied it at 20-20 with 1:35 left. Goll drained another triple, Jacob Moilanen scored after a deflection gave the Panthers the ball back and Jack Boro got a putback to end the first-half scoring.

In all, it was a 12-0 run for the Panthers, who led 27-20 at the half. The Midgets never got any closer in the second half.

The way the first half ended was big for the Panthers, Besonen said.

"We were stuck offensively, from the beginning of the second quarter to when Alan Goll hit his 3 on an inbounds play," Besonen said. "That gave us a little sigh of relief. Then guys started putting it in after that. The last two minutes was really nice, a good little spurt from us."

Swartz called timeout with 2:50 left in the first half to tell his team the importance of closing out the half on a good note.

"We just got complacent, little panicky against the press," he said. "They threw it on us, we had two turnovers in the blink of an eye and your two-point lead I think it was at that point (20-18) dissipates and we come in here hanging our heads a little bit and feeling a little down."

Landon Maki led E-TC with 15 points and Goll scored 11 as the Panthers looked good most of the night.

"Just guys rebounding in our zone gave us a chance to outlet and push the ball," Besonen said. "We had looks in transition from 3, just getting into the paint like that. It's the way we want to play. I think it really helped that Hurley shot poorly from 3 and then became tentative because of that, but credit our guys for really boxing out and getting the defensive rebounds on those long misses."

Maki will probably be back when the Midgets (0-5) go to Eagle River on Dec. 30 to play Northland Pines. Hurley certainly missed him Tuesday.

"Mitchell's a dynamic player," Swartz said. "You can't just take an athlete like that out of your lineup and not have any let-off. I'm just hoping we get full strength here and things start going our way.

"I definitely think Mitch is a player that can take pressure off James in scoring and go from there."

E-TC (1-2) hosts Bessemer in a Porcupine Mountain Conference game Friday night.

"I think our guys will be ready for it," Besonen said. "They might have some confidence now after getting the W here."

E-TC - Alan Goll 11, Tanner Driesenga 6, Landon Maki 15, Jacob Witt 2, John Berglund 5, Jacob Moilanen 7, Cyle Wascher 4, Jack Boro 4. FTs: 0-2. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: Driesenga. 3-pointers: Goll 3, Maki 3, Berglund 1, Moilanen 1.

Hurley - Jake Tenlen 4, Luke Marczak 6, Colton Dowd 2, L.J. Kutz 3, James Sukanen 18, Jacob Saari 2. FTs: 6-13. Fouls: 5. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Kutz 1.

E-TC 13 27 38 54

Hurley 14 20 28 35