Defense, scoring balance help Cheboygan boys basketball top Newberry, improve to 4-0
CHEBOYGAN – The good times kept rolling on Tuesday night for the Cheboygan boys basketball team, which improved to 4-0 with a 55-31 victory over Newberry.
Sparked by another balanced and consistent display, the Chiefs overpowered the Indians throughout the night and started off their final Straits Area Conference campaign in style.
With Cheboygan staying unbeaten, here’s some takeaways from a successful night.
Defense sets the tone again
From the opening tip until the end, the Cheboygan defense was relentless against the Indians, who struggled to create shots, especially in the first half. The Chiefs used their smothering defense to force Newberry turnovers and score on the offensive end.
Cheboygan built an 8-0 advantage to start the contest and used another run in the second quarter to push its lead to double digits. In the second half, the Chiefs forced more turnovers, went on one more big spurt and put the game out of reach by the start of the final quarter.
“We want to be the toughest team we possibly can,” Cheboygan junior forward Luke Munger said. “We want to beat St. Ignace, we want to beat Boyne City, all those big schools. We want to beat them all. We’ve just got to keep focused. You can’t lose focus.”
CHEBOYGAN GIRLS: Cheboygan girls struggle with shooting, slowing down Wright in home defeat to Charlevoix
BEATING TAWAS: Unselfish play fuels Cheboygan boys basketball team in home rout over Tawas
VOTE FOR AOTW: Vote for the Cheboygan Daily Tribune Athlete of the Week for Dec. 4-9
Newberry put points in the board, but Cheboygan made the Indians work for everything.
“They (Newberry) had some possessions in that first quarter where I think there was 20-30 seconds that ran off the clock and they didn’t even have a look,” Cheboygan coach Jason Friday said. “They would throw it away or we would get a steal or a deflection or something like that, and it was a great thing to see. We talk about how our defense needs to create opportunities for us offensively, and we’ve done a great job of that for the first four games.”
Hudson leads balanced offensive attack
The Chiefs had some offensive struggles themselves in the opening half, but they still put up a solid night against the Indians. Pacing the Chiefs was senior point guard Daniel Hudson, who netted a team-high 11 points and was a strong floor leader throughout the night.
Joining Hudson in double figures were Brennen Thater and Munger, who both netted 10 points and played solid defense. Gavin Smith finished with eight points, Caden Gardner scored six, Owen Kimbrell added five, Robert Godfrey tallied four, and Jordan Johnson chipped in with one.
“Daniel’s (Hudson) playing so good right now,” Friday said. “He’s playing with confidence and he’s just playing really good basketball, the best basketball I’ve seen him play. I thought Caden Gardner had his best game tonight. He really rebounded and worked hard and made some great decisions, made some great passes. Luke Munger played fantastic, really rebounded, and Robert Godfrey had his best game as a varsity player.”
Not getting ahead of themselves
With another impressive display, the Chiefs are certainly enjoying themselves at the moment. At the same time, though, Friday and his players want to maintain their focus, especially with tougher matchups down the road.
“We talked in the locker room after the game about how you have to stay locked in, because now you start to get some outside noise and you start to get a big head – and that’s when you have a bad game,” Friday said. “It’s important that we stay locked in, stay focused, and I think we’re going to do that and be ready to go.”
No matter how you look at it, it’s been a refreshing start for a Cheboygan team that’s struggled to have success in recent seasons. With each win, more belief builds for the players.
“It’s building a lot of confidence – and I feel like it’s building a lot of confidence in this town, too,” Munger said. “We had a big crowd tonight, so that was great.”
Kalkaska on deck
Cheboygan will have an opportunity to reach 5-0 when it travels to Kalkaska on Friday.
“The schedule is going to get a little tougher here really soon, but it’s a nice start, 4-0, we’ll certainly take it,” Friday said. “They’re (Kalkaska) young. They’re not huge. If we play our game, I think we’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
Matthew Rahilly’s game-high 14 points led Newberry.
In the junior varsity game, Cheboygan claimed a 65-46 victory. Nolan Schley and Carson Kiefer each scored 14 points for the Chiefs. Jack Ekdahl finished with 13, Andrew Kiefer had eight, Frank Leonard netted six, Landon Gahn tallied five, Luke Lafrinere recorded four, and Quin Hatt chipped in with one.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan boys basketball team cruises to home victory over Newberry
