Dawson Dunn’s 37 points not enough for Big Rapids Cardinals in 92-84 loss at Hart
HART — Dawson Dunn had a career night with 10 3-pointers and 37 points, but it wasn’t enough for Big Rapids in a clash of unbeaten boys’ basketball teams Thursday.
Hart (4-0) clinched the 92-84 win over Big Rapids (3-1) in non-league action.
A 20-game road regular-season winning streak and a 13-game regular-season winning streak for Big Rapids ended.
Big Rapids was down 74-74 when Riley Vennix made a five-point game with a 3-point match. But Dawson Dunn netted his 10th 3-pointer at 3:45 to play to tie it 76-76.
Hart capitalized on his massive advantage on free throws, extending leads in the final moments.
The Pirates led 24:8 after the first half and were leading 43:33 at half time. Hart’s lead was 65-50 after the third quarter.
All of Hart’s points were collected by their starters. Parker Hovey had 31 points, 19 of them in the second half.
For Big Rapids, Dawson Dunn had 21 points in the first half and 16 in the second half. Jack Ruggles had seven first-half points but three threes for the game and 14 in the second half for 21 points. Karlito McKinney had 12 points with 10 in the second half.
Dawson had 22 points in Tuesday’s 67-48 win over Fremont.
But on Thursday, free throws were a key stat. Hart attempted 42 versus 11 for Big Rapids.
“That was sort of the story of the game,” said Big Rapids assistant coach Blake Thomas. “Thirty of their points came off the line.
“It was a great high school basketball game. It was a good test for us. They are a good club. We lost 24-8 to start the game and if that doesn’t happen then we’ll probably walk away with the win.”
Big Rapids is playing in the Holiday Hoops at FSU Showcase next week at Wink Arena. The Cardinals’ first game is on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against Coopersville.
Pine River 36, Lake City 28
Pine River was trailing 12-6 after the first quarter, but was 17-17 at halftime and 23-23 after the third quarter. The Bucks had a 13-5 advantage in the fourth.
Evan Esiline had 12 points and eight rebounds for Pine River while Austin Dean had 12 points.
“All we can say is that it was an exceptional defensive play from both teams and follow that,” said Bucks coach Brian Goodenow. “We keep struggling to get the ball in the basket, only shooting 30 percent from the ground and from the free throw line we were just as bad at 9/21.
“I’m happy with our defense intensity tonight and we have to lean on that until we figure out offense. A couple of our sophomores, Xander Martin and Trevor Holmquist, gave us really good minutes. And Cole Crawford had a very solid fourth quarter as a senior leader, scoring all seven of his points.”
Pine River is 1-3 on aggregate and 1-1 in the Highlands and plays at Mancelona on Monday.
