Hartland basketball sub makes case for more court time in loss to Northville
HARTLAND — Colin Baroni hoped to have a greater role this season after playing in less than half of Hartland’s basketball games last season.
It took some time to get going, but Baroni is proving to be a valuable piece off the bench for the Eagles.
The 5-foot-9 senior guard nearly matched his season scoring output in one game, scoring eight points Tuesday night in a 42-39 loss to Northville.
Baroni came into the game with 10 points in eight appearances. Against Northville, he hit two 3-pointers and made two key free throws to keep the Eagles within a possession with 1:07 remaining in the game.
He scored four points in Hartland’s previous game, a victory over Salem, before matching his career high set last season in a loss to DeWitt.
After playing in only 10 of Hartland’s 24 games last season, Baroni applied lessons learned as a junior to earn more court time this season.
“One, I’ve got to get my intensity up,” he said. “I’ve got to for sure get on the ball more and get my defensive role going. Then, on offense, I’ve got to shoot the ball, be confident and help the team out.”
While Northville played air-tight defense on Hartland’s top weapons, Baroni was left open for his two 3-pointers.
“I tried my best out there to help the team out,” he said. “I just try to get open, find those open shots, help my team out and hit those open threes.”
It’s a daily grind for Baroni and other Hartland role players to earn playing time. Being conscientious on the defensive end is a given to get the nod on game nights. As he showed Tuesday, Baroni also has the ability to shoot from the perimeter.
“He comes off the bench, gives a high motor, high energy, just a real scrappy player,” Blouin said. “He can shoot it, too. He definitely helped us out tonight.
“It’s very fluid on this team. In practice, it’s just a battle, which is great. It’s a battle every single day. It’s very close coming off the bench. He’s earned more lately.”
Hartland never led, falling behind 8-0 in the first 2 minutes, 24 seconds and trailing 23-13 at halftime.
Sophomore Layne Broker scored six of his team-high 10 points in the third quarter to help the Eagles get within two points, but he quickly fouled out with three fouls in the first 1:39 of the fourth quarter.
Hartland cut the lead to 27-26 late in the third quarter and 33-32 when Kyle Greig went 1-for-2 from the line with 5:24 remaining. Northville sophomore Nate Imbuzeiro scored the next five points on a 3-pointer with 4:26 left and a jumper with 3:29 on the clock, extending the lead to 38-32.
A putback by Vance King made it 40-39 with nine seconds left. After Imbuzeiro hit two free throws with 8.1 seconds left, the Eagles faced tough pressure on their way up the court before Cyrus Gray shed a defender to get off a 3-pointer that missed the mark at the buzzer.
“They did a great job of stopping that last play,” Blouin said. “I thought we improvised really, really well, actually. We had Cy in there and Colin. We ran a play to get one of them loose. We actually ended up with a wide-open three to tie the game at the buzzer. The last play we executed just fine, we just didn’t hit the shot.”
Hartland fell to 8-3 overall, 2-2 in the KLAA West. With its sixth straight victory, Northville is 8-4 overall, 4-1 in the division.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Final shot misses mark, Hartland boys basketball loses to Northville
