Brandon Delgado hit three of Pinny's seven 3-pointers against Oscoda on Thursday as the Spartans pulled away from the Owls in the second half.
Oscoda's Adam Dettmer scores two of his 28 points despite some tight defense from Pinny's Andrew Holbrook.
Brent Baker
Casey Pashak pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his 15 points Thursday at Oscoda.

OSCODA - Jan. 3, 2007 - Oscoda boys basketball coach Scott Lueck figured his team had a chance to beat Pinconning, unless the Spartans' array of shooters got hot.

Unfortunately for the Owls, that's exactly what happened.

Pinny, which had been having trouble scoring points, broke out of its slump Thursday as three players combined to hit seven 3-pointers in a 73-48 victory that gave the Spartans their first North East Michigan Conference victory of the season.

"We played unselfishly -- on top of those 3-pointers, we got a lot of back-door layups," said Pinconning coach Tim Floyd. "We ran the offense the way we were supposed to, and hopefully with games like this the kids will buy into it a bit more."

The Spartans broke out on top early, but the Owls scratched back in the game in the second quarter with an 8-1 run that cut the Pinny lead to 21-18. The Spartans pulled away in the final minutes of the half as Casey Pashak converted a pair of offensive rebounds and Brandon Delgado and Randall Howard each drilled 3-pointers, with Howard's coming just before the halftime buzzer for a 35-22 lead.

"They're good, and we just didn't match up with them very well," said Oscoda coach Scott Lueck. "We're short, so we had trouble defending them (man-to-man), and they're quick so we struggled defending them in the zone.

"They also moved the ball and get it to the open man, and we didn't."

Adam Dettmer scored 28 points to lead all scorers, but the Owls didn't get anyone else into double figures.

Meanwhile, Pinny pulled away in the second half behind a balanced effort as Casey Pashak finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, Delgado added 14 points, six rebounds and five steals and Howard had 13. Pinny led by as many as 30 points midway through the fourth quarter.

The Spartans (4-2, 1-2 NEMC) host Whittemore-Prescott on Thursday, Jan. 10, while Oscoda (5-2, 1-2) hosts Tawas on Friday, Jan. 11.