LUDINGTON — Long-range shooting is usually a big part of the recipe to Hart victories, but without that available Wednesday night, the Pirates audibled to impressive effect.
Hart missed all but one of its three-point attempts in the district semifinal game against Reed City, but with some high-level defense in the third quarter, the Pirates blew open a close game and rode an impressive performance by Caleb Ackley to a 59-37 win, earning a date with top seed Ludington in the finals.
Hart (20-3) outscored the Coyotes 19-6 in the third quarter, executing its trapping defense to great effect. Coach Nick Bronsema said the team experimented with different styles of traps for the game, but unhappy with the results, went to its bread and butter in the second half.
“We were trying to trap in the corners in the beginning, and they were picking it apart, so we decided to sit back and just do what we do and trap off what we normally do, and we were getting steals off of it,” senior Caleb Ackley said. “I guess they weren’t expecting us to go off the corners. We tightened up our backside help and it worked.”
Ackley was the offensive centerpiece in the second half, as Hart started pounding the ball inside as a response to early struggles from long range. The Pirates didn’t make a trey until Lorenzo Furlan netted one in the fourth quarter, and by that time they had a comfortable lead anyway. It was the sign of a team willing to do whatever necessary to win rather than sticking with what wasn’t working.
“Our shooters who had a little trouble tonight, we know they’re going to start making them, so we’re going to keep relying on them,” Bronsema said. “A guy like Jagger Lenon, there’s nobody in the gym more than that kid, so we’re going to ride with him. He’s a senior, a wonderful kid, and a heck of a basketball player. He was just in a little bit of a slump this game, and he’ll get out of it.”
As the points piled up for Ackley, something that seemed unlikely at halftime, when he had six points, became an option. He entered the night needing 25 to get to 1,000 for his career, a mark last achieved by Parker Hovey. With victory apparently in hand in the final minutes, Bronsema called timeout and informed them of Ackley being seven points away from the milestone, information the players hadn’t been given before the game. The response was immediate.
“Caleb’s been an unselfish part of our program,” Bronsema said. “He’s gotten better every year. For him to get to 1,000 points says a lot about him. When we called that last timeout, I told the group he was getting down to the wire. He was seven points away, and (I asked,) ‘Do you guys feel like you can do that?’ They did, and so it was cool.”
Teammates fed Ackley repeatedly - the senior boosted his already solid rebounding night up to 19 boards by grabbing his own misses a few times - and he scored that 1,000th point on a free throw, setting off a mini-celebration next to the Hart bench.
“I’m just happy for Caleb,” fellow senior Miguel Escamilla said. “I’ve been wanting him to get this for a long time. We’ve talked about it for a while. We knew he was on pace for it, and my goal for tonight was to get him to that.”
Friday’s goal will be very different - exact revenge for last year’s competitive district final defeat, and do it on the Orioles’ home court. It won’t be a simple task, as Ludington has 21 victories on the season and boasts tremendous athletes on its roster, such as stars Cam Gunsell and Taj Williams. Bronsema, familiar with Orioles’ coach Thad Shank from his days at Orchard View when both were in the old Lakes 8 Conference, knows Ludington will be prepared.
“He doesn’t give you a lot of room for error because his kids are always ready,” Bronsema said. “We’re just going to have to do what we do defensively. We’re going to have to be really tough.”
“We’ve got to stop them in transition and force them to take bad shots,” Escamilla added. “We know that they’re an athletic team, and they’re going to try to push the ball. We’ve just got to make sure we get back and take the right shots.”
Kolton Rockwell scored 13 points and had four assists and four steals for Hart.
