SHA upends Beal City,77-65

By PETERAUCHTER "I think we came out a little less tense, in my opin-

Sun SportsWriter
The renewal of the Beal City-Sacred Heart
Academy rivalry featured a little bit of everything
plus a lot of emotion and plenty of scoring.
Host Sacred Heart was able to focus its energy
better, however, and won 77-65 in the boys basket-
ball season opener for both teams Tuesday night.
"Definitely it was a big win for us," said Sacred
Heart coach Dan Simons. "It's a great way to start
the season."
Junior Hedlun Walton paced all scorers wlth 27
Doints. The 6-foot-3 junior center also was a force on
the boards, pulling down 15 rebounds.
Senior guard Brian Gaede notched 18 points and
seven assists. Rob Ervin chipped in with 17 points
and Todd Hackett added 10. Hackett, a senior, also
had nine rebounds.
"I thought that everyone I put in the game played
well," Simons said. "Good mental minutes. I'm real
pleased."
Brian O'Neil paced Beal City with22 points. Jason
Smith added 15 points on five 3-pointers, all in the
second quarter.
Derek Mueller, with 13 points, and Ryan Fussman,
with 11, also reached double figures for Beal City
but it wasn't enough to overcome a slow start by the
Aggies.
Afterr a Walton free throw opened the scoring,
O'Neil scored two straight hoops (including a triple
from the top of the key) to put Beal City up 5-1 early.
But the Aggies wouldn't score again until the second
ion," Simons said. "That's how we got the early
lead."
Once Sacred Heart got the lead, it just kept piling
on the points - much to the dismay of Beal City
coach Tom Lavoie.
"I thought our defense could have been a little
better," he said. "But when you miss as many shots
as we did it's hard to get back in your press and that
was the difference."
After a brutal first quarter, Beal City got untrack-
ed offensively thanks to senior Jason Smith.
Smith hit triples with ease during the quarter to
help pull the Aggies back into contention. The
closest that Beal City would come to the lead,
however, was five points.
Sacred Heart took a seven-point lead into the lock-
er room at halftime following a pair of free throws
by Gaede.
The momentum swung back in Sacred Heart's
favor early in the third quarter and the Irish were
never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
"The kids kept their poise and made a nice run,"
Lavoie said of the second quarter. l'But that takes a
lot out of you, especially teams on the road.
"I was pleased with the effort. We got the shots we
were looking for (but they wouldn't fall.)"
As could be expected, emotions sometimes got the
best of players during the game. Technical fouls
were called the Sacred Heart bench, Gaede and the
Aggies'O'Neil. The sellout crowd only added to the
frenzied atmosphere.
Sun photogr.phr
"When these two teams meet, no matter what time by D|CK BOLTOIiI

quarter. of year it is, it's always an emotion-filled game," Beal City's Jason Smith hit five 3-pointersin
-
Sacred Heart ripped off 14 straight points to take said Simons. the second quarter but the Aggles still lost to
control of the game. Beal City won the junior varsity game 55-43. SacredHeart.

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