Cardinals take down Nimrods

WAKEFIELD - What a stretch of games for the Watersmeet Nimrods.

They lost to No. 1 Dollar Bay Thursday night, fell to the third-place team in the conference, Wakefield-Marenisco, Friday night, 80-53, and they face back-to-back meetings with No. 3 Ewen-Trout Creek early next week.

"We're playing the best teams in the U.P., some of them," Watersmeet coach George Peterson III said. "That's one way that our young guys will grow. I'm challenging them to get better every night."

Watersmeet's Julius Barajas hit a 3 midway through the second quarter to pull Watersmeet within 25-20 in what was a competitive first 12 minutes of Friday night's ballgame.

But it was all W-M after that. A 13-4 run to end the half put them up 38-24. It happened in a hurry as the Cardinals scored 11 straight points after Barajas' 3. Mason Saubert hit a 3, Austin Vizina made two free throws and Bailey Ribich dropped back-to-back 3s to put the Cardinals up 36-20.

"It took a little while for our offense to get going," W-M Terry Fetters said.

He had mixed feelings after the game. It was a nice win, but at the same time, he thought the Cardinals could have played better defense and a more complete 32 minutes.

"I think I just expect more because I know what these guys are capable of doing," Fetters said.

Three finished in double figures for both teams. Saubert made six 3s and led W-M with 24 points. Ribich made three and scored 15. Jacob Suzik had 21 points.

"It was a really good team effort tonight," Fetters said. "Very unselfish. I saw the guys make the extra pass tonight. We could have shot half-contested, but we made that one more pass and the guy was wide open. That's what I like to see.

"Mason and Jake did a heck of a job tonight."

They were complemented by Ribich's 15 and nine from Brett Heil.

"I like to see these other guys contribute offensively also because it takes pressure off of Jake and Mason, so it's nice to see Bailey and Brett get in there and get some points for us, too," Fetters said.

Peterson was impressed with the Cardinals.

"They have a nice inside presence and outside presence," Peterson said. "I'd like to wish them luck in the tournament, but we play them in the tournament. They're a solid team. They have to be right up there with all the other teams on any given night. It should be a fun tournament. We're a couple years away, though, maybe a year away. I'm proud of my guys the way they came out here tonight, played well, played hard and they didn't give up."

Julius Barajas scored 15 points to lead the Nimrods. Ben Winkka had 13 and Jason McKinney scored 10.

"Even though we got beat by 30, there were some parts of the game I was really pleased with," Peterson said. "Our determination and the execution of some of our plays. I was disappointed in some of our unforced errors. Believe it or not, that was better than last night (against Dollar Bay)."

Fetters liked the effort given by Watersmeet.

"Watersmeet, they've got some young kids on that team. They play their hearts out, they play hard for George," Fetters said.

Watersmeet (1-13, 0-8) travels to E-TC Monday night. W-M (13-3, 9-3) hosts Washburn Thursday night.

Watersmeet - Julius Barajas 15, Jason McKinney 10, Mitchell McGeshick 4, Ben Winkka 13, Hoawrd Caron 4, Leighton Templeton 7. FTs: 10-11. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Winkka 2, Templeton 1.

W-M - Mason Saubert 24, Bailey Ribich 15, Jake Lane 2, Jake Suzik 21, Austin Vizina 5, Brett Heil 9, Erik Hakamaki 2, Kyle Whitburn 2. FTs: 9-17. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Saubert 6, Ribich 3, Heil 2.

Watersmeet 10 24 37 53

W-M 19 38 54 80