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Evan Esline had 13 points in Pine River's win over Evart.
Pioneer Photo/Brendan Sanders
LE ROY— In was a big win on Hall of Fame induction night at Pine River High School.
Looking for its third conference win of the season and second in a row, Pine River came out shooting hot against Evart. The Bucks would beat the Wildcats 48-41 to advance to 4-11 on the year and 3-8 in conference play.
"Lots of guts we showed, overcoming some, to some degree, self imposed adversity," Coach Brian Goodenow said. "We turned the ball over 24 times, that's not just on us. Credit Evart's defense for that. They're so scrappy, they're so fast. Fortunately, our defense responded in kind and I felt like we forced a lot of turnovers from them too. Just really proud of my guys for really digging deep and pulling this one out."
Evart took the early lead, pulling ahead 15-11 in the first quarter, but Pine River came roaring back behind some strong shots by Nathan Marks. At the half, Pine River would lead 25-21. The Bucks would hold the slim advantage going into the fourth with a 34-31 lead before pulling away in the final minutes.
"Nathan Marks hit some shots for us outside and Evan (Esline) who's a big post player, has a nice shooting touch. He hits some key shots for us as well," Goodenow said.
The leading scorer for Pine River was Nathan Marks with 15 points. Evan Esline scored 13 points including a crucial 3-pointer in the fourth.
"I work on those little mid range shots and threes a lot and I hit a lot in practice, about 80 percent from there," Evan Esline said. "That's just like my kind of spot to shoot from and they were falling tonight."
Evart falls to 7-8 on the year and 6-6 in conference play. Kamden Darling led the Wildcats in shooting with 11 points. Starting guard Marcel White was injured early in the second half after getting poked in the eye.
"Without him in there it actually changes probably our defense more than he does our offense," Coach Kris Morgan said. "So Marcel's absence, with his speed on defense and his reacting to the passes, is huge. He leads us in steals this year so he's a physical kid, he's a bit bigger guard so he can get down there and rebound too. So we missed him on the glass."
Pine River will take on McBain (10-4, 10-1 in conference) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Evart will head to McBain Northern Michigan Christian (10-3, 8-3 in conference) in conference action the same night.
