LocalSportsJournal.com
HART — Parker Hovey scored 27 points on Friday night and led the Hart Pirates to a come-from-behind 63-46 victory over the Shelby Tigers.
Friday’s game was played in the West Michigan Conference Rivers Division.
Shelby gained an 18-12 lead after the first quarter, but the Pirates rebounded with a 16-13 advantage in the second period to shave the Tigers’ lead down to 31-28 at the break.
“We had some early jitters that we had to shake off,” said Hart coach Nick Bronsema. “This group held the Tigers to three points in the third quarter, which gave us an eight-point lead.”
Hart outscored Shelby, 15-3, in the third quarter and opened up a 46-31 lead entering the final period. The Pirates finished it off with a 16-12 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Parker Hovey scored 27 points to lead the Pirates, which included a thunderous dunk. He also had eight rebounds, six blocks and four assists. Caleb Bitely was next in scoring for the Pirates with 18 points and he grabbed five rebounds. Wyatt Dean and Diego Escamilla added seven points each.
“After a great first half, we couldn’t find a rhythm in the second,” Shelby coach Rick Zoulek said. “We played well and did a great job of hitting key shots and getting key rebounds. We felt like we did a lot of good things tonight, but we had way too many turnovers and missed opportunities to hang with them. We had 25 turnovers to their 10, and 18 in the second half.
“When we clean this up, we will compete with anyone,” Zoulek said. “I was proud of the effort overall, but we need to clean up the ball handling.”
Bishop Lee paced the Tigers with 14 points and five rebounds, while Wyatt Dickman added 13 points and five rebounds. Griffin Olmstead contributed eight points. Lalo Garcia added eight rebounds.
The Pirates (2-0, 1-0) travel to Oakridge on Tuesday.
Shelby (0-2, 0-1) hosts Grant in a nonconference game on Monday.
