Advertisement

Still, he wouldn't have complained if the Warriors (8-4) had taken a big lead early and coasted through.

Instead, the coach spent most of the game on his feet, sweating out every second as Forest Area had to scrap for every point against a tough St. Mary squad.

Nevermind the records, which indicated Forest Area had the better team. St. Mary wasn't paying attention.

Matt Kelly sank both of his free throws with only 13 seconds left in the fourth period to give the Warriors the win.

They were the only free throws Kelly took in the game.

Down by a point, the Warriors put on the press. Kelly stole the ball and was fouled as he tried to get it down the court.

"It was a really good game right from the start,"Nix said. Forest Area trailed the Snowbirds, who fell to 4-10, by a 12-10 score at the end of the first quarter.

St. Mary managed to extend its lead on the Warriors to four points, 26-22, by the halftime break.

Daneff shot 10-of-21 from the field and was 11-of-13 at the free throw line. Scott Hansen added 10 assists for East Jordan, which improved to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the LMC.

Kalkaska, which fell to 4-9 and 3-5, respectively, was led in scoring by John Kasza with 27 points. Alex Krause contributed 17 points.

The Blazers trailed by five points at halftime. East Jordan switched its defense in the second half, and Daneff went wild.

"Daneff kind of hurt us with his passing a little bit,"Manchester said. "He hit some kids underneath for some wide open layups. "We just couldn't play any defense. It was frustrating for me, and frustrating for the other guys.Ó

One bright spot for the Blazers was that they had only 11 turnovers for the game. But, they had just 12 assists.

Elk Rapids pulled out a 49-48 win over the Blazers last Monday in a game rescheduled from a snowout.

"We didn't start out very well,"Manchester said. "We were down 15 after the first quarter and some of the second period. "Then, we switched up our defense and put a little run together.Ó Kalkaska rallied to narrow the deficit to single digits at the half and then kept within two and three of the Elks in the second half.

A turnover gave the Blazers possession with 7 seconds left in the game. Manchester drew up a play in a timeout.

"We got the shot we wanted, and there was actually a foul on the play that wasn't called,"Manchester said.

"One of the refs at East Jordan told me that after watching the tape of the game, there was foul they didn't call. He apologized.Ó

Travis Schuba, an 80 percent free throw shooter, was the Blazer who was fouled, too.

Manchester wasn't using that as excuse, however.

"I didn't rant and rave, because we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place,"he said.

"We made a good run in the fourth. Kasza and Krause kept hitting back-to-back threes, and we actually cut it to four.Ó

Kalkaska had excellent scoring balance, with four players in double figures. Kasza led the way with 14 points.

Schuba, Jake Heller and Krause contributed 10 points apiece. Krause also grabbed 10 rebounds.

"We definitely did our job that night, defensively,"Manchester said.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Blazers. Kalkaska hosts Boyne City tonight (Wednesday) and travels to St. Francis on Friday.