Tom Pinkerton (50) and Adam Dettmer (40) led their respective teams in scoring during Tuesday's 53-44 overtime victory for Tawas over Oscoda.
Kevin Mallak scores and draws a foul in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Oscoda-Tawas showdown. Mallak hit the free throw to tie the game at 34-34 with six minutes remaining in what turned into an overtime thriller.
Brent Baker
Aaron Pfeiffer came off the bench to score five points during Tawas Area's second-quarter run that gave the Braves a six-point halftime lead.

TAWAS AREA - Jan. 16, 2007 - After struggling on offense for most of the second half, Tawas Area found its shooting touch just in time.

The Braves outscored rival Oscoda 11-2 in overtime Tuesday to take a 53-44 victory and keep themselves alive in the North East Michigan Conference title chase. The Braves and Ogemaw Heights are two games behind the league-unbeaten Spartans, with Standish-Sterling in second place, sandwiched between Pinny and the rest.

"The odds are against us catching Pinconning," said Tawas coach Todd Kaems. "But if we want to still have a chance, we can't afford any more (league) losses. There is no way they will lose three games; even having them lose two right now doesn't look very probable."

Tawas almost found itself in that hole as Oscoda came back from a 10-point deficit early in the third quarter to take the lead midway through the final period.

Barak Henderson, who spent much of the game on the bench in foul trouble, helped start the comeback as the Owls kept finding the 6-6 center inside. He scored five straight points to cut a 29-19 Tawas lead to 29-24, but then committed his fourth foul and again had to take a seat.

But even with Henderson on the bench, Oscoda kept chipping away. Tawas turned the ball over four times early in the fourth quarter, and the Owls made headway at the free throw line, where they made nine straight in the final quarter. Adam Dettmer hit two free throws to cut the Tawas lead to 34-31, then stole the ball and fed Kevin Mallak for a layup that turned into the game-tying 3-point play with six minutes to go.

"We tried to emphasize going inside," Kaems said. "I thought our guards made some good passes, but we couldn't hang onto the ball."

Henderson returned to the floor with 4:30 left and Tawas leading 36-34, and while he didn't score over the next two minutes, his presence was a key factor as Oscoda went on a 6-0 run to take a 40-36 lead.

But after Henderson fouled out with 2:45 left, the Owls managed just two points in the rest of regulation and two in overtime.

"He made a big difference," said Oscoda coach Scott Lueck. "But even when he wasn't in, we weren't taking bad shots. We just couldn't get them to go in. Shooting percentage and turnovers killed us."

Thomas Pinkerton scored on an offensive rebound with 2:15 left to cut the Oscoda lead to two points, and Evan St. Aubin netted the game-tying bucket with 1:12 left and was fouled. St. Aubin missed the free throw, but Shaun Jordan grabbed the offensive rebound and held the ball for the final shot. Tawas pulled off a perfect give-and-go, but missed the shot at the buzzer to force overtime.

"Once we got ahead, we couldn't ever get comfortably into an offensive set," Lueck said.

St. Aubin put the Braves ahead for good with a 3-point play, Pinkerton added an inside hoop and Jesse Siwek drilled a 3-pointer with 1:45 left to put Tawas up 50-42.

Oscoda took a 15-9 lead after one quarter, but turnovers late in the quarter fueled a 13-2 Tawas run that gave the Braves a 25-19 lead at the half. Each team committed 24 turnovers in the game.

For Oscoda (3-5, 1-4 NEMC) it was the second tough loss in three games to an NEMC contender. Last Tuesday, the Owls fell to Standish-Sterling 64-60.

""We have a lot of kids playing well," Lueck said. "Mike Leveille coming off the bench has really improved. Ryan Mahalak, I just love him. He had the flu tonight, but he always does his job out there."

Dettmer led all scorers with 18 points.

Tawas (7-2, 3-2) got 14 from Pinkerton, 11 from Siwek and 8 from St. Aubin. The Braves host Standish-Sterling (7-1, 4-1) on Friday in yet another critical league test for both teams.