By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
MANISTEE — The Manistee boys basketball team had perhaps its best game of the season Monday night in posting its first district tournament win in at least 7 years, dispatching Big Rapids, 46-34.
The Mariners hadn’t advanced past the first round in the 7 years Zach Bialik has been a coach in the program, including the last two as the head coach. Winning on their home court made it even more special.
Manistee rocked the Cardinals back on their heels with an 11-0 start and kept them scoreless until just 1:24 remained in the first quarter.
The Mariners went into the locker room at the break on a big surge of momentum when sophomore Landin Sowa brought the Manistee fans to their feet with a 3-point bomb that just beat the buzzer for a 21-14 lead at the half.
Although the Cardinals cut the gap to eight a few times in the second half, Manistee maintained a 10-point margin throughout the second half and led 30-20 after three.
“The kids deserved it. They worked their butts off, and I think it showed if you watched the game tonight,” said Bialik. “We knew that second half they were really going to come, send a lot of people and try to force some turnovers, just like we would do if we were down.
“Sure, there were some times we’d like to have back, but as much as they were coming after the ball in the second half, we did a good job of hanging on to it.”
Manistee had only 11 turnovers on the night.
Sowa scored a game-high 15 points for Manistee, while Kaden Kott contributed 14 points and Jacob Scharp added 13.
Scharp, a guard on the roster, pulled down 14 rebounds and Sowa had eight. Scharp dished out four assists and Sowa had two steals.
Manistee, now 11-12 for the season, takes on conference foe Ludington for the third time this season in the second game in Wednesday night’s semifinals at 7 p.m.
