Boys Hoops Win Close Game on the Road

WALLED LAKE — Matt Poches once again showed why he's the most valuable player of the boys basketball team, scoring more than half of Eagles' points Thursday to help the Eagles edge Walled Lake Western 65-63.

Not only did the senior guard score Hartland's first nine points in the critical fourth quarter among his game-high 34, he sank a key free-throw with less than 10 seconds remaining.

"I knew I had to make one of them," Poches said. "I was really excited after making the first, and I think that's what caused me to miss the second."

That didn't matter.

Korey Wade, of Walled Lake Western, had an opportunity to send the game into overtime. He received the ball with time winding down, drove to the hoop, and lost the ball, ending the game. Poches and company jumped, fist pumped, and ran to the Hartland bench to celebrate with teammates.

"We pulled through tonight and made good on our free-throw chances at the end." Eagles head coach Frank Leppek said.

Hartland was nine for 14 on free-throw attempts in the final quarter.

"I'm excited we won, we showed a lot tonight," Poches said. "This will help us down the road. ... We showed a lot of composure, we had some bench players who had to start and they handled it great."

Poches was referring to the loss of senior point guard Kevin Hughes, who in a game-time decision was held out due to flu.

"He got sicker and sicker the closer we got," Leppek said.

Poches filled in most of the game as the teams point guard. He shot 10-for-20 from the field, and grabbed 10 rebounds. In addition, Hartland had to use some of its bench players in freshman Nelson Cagle and sophomore Anthony Villar. Villar scored a season-high 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Despite their success the Eagles had a hard time adjusting early on and committed nine turnovers in the first half, 16 total for the game.

"We had a better second half than we did first," Leppek added. "We allowed a lot more inside scoring and we came out more urgent in the second half. We didn't do a lot in the first that we wanted to do."

The Warriors scored 10 points in the paint in the first half.

Poches said following the win over Adrian on Tuesday night that the team had to run sprints for every offensive rebound they gave up, and the sprints worked. The Eagles not only adjusted well to the Warriors press defense in the second half, they gave up just nine offensive rebounds.

The Eagles (3-0) led the entire game, although there was plenty of drama, especially in the last minute that included a key block by senior Dan Richmond and free throws by Poches and Ryan Sharpe.

Wade scored 20 points on the night, 14 of those coming from free-throws. He made a living against Hartland driving the lane and drawing contact while he shot 3-for-6 from the field.

Richmond scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Will Griffin, of Walled Lake Western, scored 14 points. Calvin Sitto and Connor Vercillina each had seven for the Warriors.

Hartland next plays Dec. 28 at the Rochester Holiday Tournament.