Ann Arbor Huron a New Beginning

A rare freshman, junior varsity, and varsity triple-header took place at Ann Arbor Huron's Riverdome as the River Rats battled city rival Pioneer friday night. The rivalry has been lopsided over the last four-years as the Pioneers have only dropped one of those matchups. This cold February night shed light into the future and present state of the rivalry as Huron swept Pioneer.

Huron's varisty squad avenged a loss earlier in the season and there might be a rubber match on a neutral site (Dexter-district finals 3/13/09) in another two and a half weeks. The River Rats only have two seniors, 6'2 forward Montez Sistrunk and 6'2 forward Philip Mathew, and both provided the leadership needed to hold off a strong senior team in Pioneer. Huron stretched their first quarter lead to 33-21 at the half.

Huron's sophomore guard and wing duo of 6'3 AJ Mathew, seven points, and 6'4 Dante Williams, five points, were non-factors scoring wise but their shots created points for Sistrunk, 15 points, and another sophomore 6'4 Kyle Baker, eight points.

Pioneer's leader and one of Michigan's best unsigned point guards, 6'3 Nate Robertson, was limited by three first half fouls and picked up his fourth less than three minutes into the fourth. Robertson was haunted by ticky-tack calls throught the game and watched as the Pioneers' switched to a 1-3-1 defense that created turnovers at the top of the key and sliced the deficit to 44-41 to end the third quarter with 6'2 senior guard Nick Giard running the half court offense.

The fourth quarter was what one can expect in city rivalries as the game had intense moments after whistles and Pioneer's Roberston dished to 6'1 guard David Veals, 18 points, to cut the score to 50-49 with thirty-five seconds remaining in regulation. The Pioneers were forced to foul and AJ Mathew hit one of two free throws with under thirty seconds giving the road team life. The tie or lead was squandered by a turnover and 6'2 sophomore guard Matt Hasting's ensuing free-throws led to the final score, 53-49.

Huron's Head Coach Waleed Samaha solid core of young players on varsity will lead the the solid core of freshman and junior varsity players over the years. 6'4 junior forward Nate Schmidt and 6'2 junior wing Deandre Caldwell provide toughness and are glue players essential to winning.

Pioneer's tallest player 6'4 forward Colin Shileds scored eleven points.

Pioneer's Head Coach Rex Stanczak will have a solid core of players traveling through the ranks and if they don't make it there until their junior year don't let the slow rise fool you. Robertson is a perfect example as he didn't reach the varsity level until his junior year, a year after the Pioneer's gave the 2007 State Champion Saginaw Trojans one of their toughest battles of the year in the Class A state semi-finals. Robertson didn't lose a high school game until his junior year. He was held to five points but while he can shoot his game is passing and threading dimes is what he does best oftern finding teammates for lay-ups on this night and whenever you'll see him high-school or college.

College is the big question for Robertson as he's the darling of the top DIII/NAIA schools in the country, the DII's seem jittered to offer him as they could see a DI program countering and swiping their steal. Either way, the Division I or Division II program that puts Robertson in a Vertamax will have the biggest smile. His takes care of the ball and his vision is amongst the best, if not the best in the state of Michigan (Ray McCallum, jr., Isaiah Sykes, Vonn Jones, Mike Fugate), he plays within himself, and he changes speeds better than change-up specialist Tom Glavine.

Huron's jv won, 55-45, and the freshmen, 76-68.