Tuesday's battle at AuGres-Sims was heavy on the defense, as Oscoda's Adam Dettmer demonstrated to Shane Lynch (top) and the Wolverines' Robert Verdusco did to Ryan Mahalak (above).
A.J. Baker
Clark Larson scores in the first half of Tuesday's contest, won by Oscoda 36-32.

AuGRES-SIMS - Feb. 20, 2007 - With defenses reigning supreme at AuGres-Sims on Tuesday, it took a standout effort from a player not used to scoring much to lead Oscoda to a 36-32 gut-check victory over the Wolverines.

With sharpshooter Jason Jimenez ailing, Kevin Mallak stepped up to score a season-high 10 points, including three key baskets in the second half, as the Owls rallied from as much as seven points down in the first half.

"Kevin really picked it up," said Oscoda coach Scott Lueck. "We've had trouble scoring points, and Jason wasn't feeling well. Someone has to be able to make the 14-15 footers, and he did tonight."

Both teams shot just 25 percent, and after the Owls pulled to within 22-21 at the half, neither team could pull away until the final minute, when the Wolverines turned the ball over with under a minute to play and a chance to tie the game.

Lueck wasn't happy that the game came down to the wire despite his team outrebounding AGS 41-30 and turning the ball over five fewer times (17-12), but wasn't about to give up the victory, which assured Oscoda (10-8) at least a .500 regular season.

"AuGres played hard," he said. "Playing in our gym is worth about 10 points to us and (after beating AGS by 12 last week) we knew it would be close.

"It was good we got ahead near the end so we were able to get them to force some shots they normally wouldn't take, and we had some good execution at the end."

Adam Dettmer, who also had nine rebounds, matched Mallak for team scoring honors, while Barak Henderson had nine points, 15 rebounds and the basket that put the Owls up by four points late.

Isaiah Kauffman had nine points and nine rebounds, with Shane Lynch scoring nine and pulling down seven rebounds for AGS (6-11).