Tigers find enough offense in final minutes to slip past Pirates

PERKINS TWP. — Huron used a 7-0 run to beat Perkins 44-36 on Wednesday night at Perkins High School. Cole Parker hit a 3-pointer that gave Huron a 38-32 lead with 1:50 to play. Tyler Adams made two free throws 15 seconds later, and the Tigers held on for a win despite a sloppy offensive performance. "It's always good to get a win, but I thought we turned the ball over way too much," Huron coach Bobby James said. "That and the free throws. We made some really uncharacteristic mistakes tonight." The Tigers (9-6) entered Wednesday averaging just 11 turnovers per game and shooting 68 percent from the free-throw line (second-best in the SBC Bay). Against Perkins, they committed 20 turnovers and shot 60 percent from the line. James theorized that Huron's snow day on Tuesday might've thrown the Tigers off. Perkins' defense deserved credit, too. Whatever the reason, though, James hopes his team brings more energy when it hosts Edison on Friday for Senior Night. That will serve as Huron's final tune-up game before it plays Clear Fork in the sectional semifinals next week. "I'd like to play a lot better as we get into the tournament," James said. "The mistakes we made tonight are very correctable, but we have to correct them by the time we play Clear Fork." Perkins coach Scott McVeigh felt the same about his Pirates (7-10), who scored fewer than 40 points for the first time since their Jan. 12 loss at Bellevue. Perkins ripped off five straight wins after that loss and had won seven of nine before they played Huron. Even the Pirates' recent losses — by one to Clyde on Feb. 6 and by three to Norwalk in overtime on Saturday — have been impressive. Perhaps they were due for a letdown. And to be fair, Huron has held its opponents to 46.4 points per game. McVeigh wasn't interested in those explanations. He posited a much simpler one. "I won't sugarcoat it: We didn't come to play tonight," he said. "That's what ticks me off more than anything. We're so much better than what we showed tonight." McVeigh voiced the most frustration with the Pirates' lack of ball movement. He estimates he finished the game with more fingers than Perkins did assists, the statistic McVeigh believes has fueled the Pirates' impressive play of late. "The ball never moved," McVeigh said. "Neither did our bodies. We pounded the ball for no purpose." The Pirates led by as many as five points in the first half and never trailed by more than one possession until the fourth quarter. But Huron's defense held them to just 24 points in the final three quarters and seven in the fourth. Dylan Hohler led Huron with 15 points. Adams and Jacob Lamb added eight; Parker scored seven. Sam Siegel and Sam Oddo led Perkins with nine points apiece. Siegel entered the Huron game as the leading scorer in the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division (20 points per game). James credited guards Marc Hurst and Luke Rager for forcing the ball out of Siegel's hands. "We doubled as much as we could," James said. "Marc and Luke did a nice job, and we did a nice job of helping to keep (Siegel) out of the paint." HURON (9-6) Jacob Lamb 3 2-4 8, Luke Rager 1 0-0 3, Dylan Hohler 4 7-10 15, Tyler Adams 2 2-2 8, Cole Parker 2 1-3 7. Tait Fischer 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 13 12-20 44 PERKINS (7-10) Sam Siegel 3 3-6 9, Drake Venerucci 2 0-0 4, Sam Oddo 2 4-4 9, Jayden Rowe 2 0-0 4, Gavin Hemphill 1 0-0 3, Tyler Yingling 2 1-2 5. TOTALS 13 8-12 36 Huron 11 8 7 18 — 44Perkins 12 8 9 7 — 36 Three-point goals: Huron 6 (Lamb 2, Adams 2, Rager, Fischer); Perkins 2 (Oddo, Hemphill)