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March 12, 2003McBain rambles onPrep basketballByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - It's the most basic level of basketball - defense and rebounding. In the Class C regional at Traverse City West on Tuesday night, it was basically the difference. McBain dominated the glass and never let Suttons Bay get on track offensively and advanced to Friday's regional final with a 59-43 victory.
"Those are the only two things I know how to teach," McBain coach Bruce Koopman said. "When it comes to offense, we just tell them to shoot the ball when they're open. We're not anything fancy on offense." "That's what he's been saying all year," McBain junior Luke Bronkema added. "That's our bread and butter." In addition to out-rebounding the Norsemen on both ends of the court, McBain also fiercely attacked the offensive glass. The Ramblers turned seven offensive rebounds into 14 points. "They got offensive rebounds and we didn't get many," Suttons Bay coach Todd Hursey said. "Offensive rebounding felt like a 15-1 (margin) and I think that's where their offensive spark came from. "You've got to rebound and make shots. We've done that pretty well all season, but we didn't get the job done tonight." Ten of the 14 points McBain scored on offensive rebounds came in the first half as the Ramblers jumped out to a 25-18 lead. McBain opened the second-half with a 9-4 run to lead by 12. Suttons Bay was never closer than 10 the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 20 in the final minute of the contest. "You can't imagine the time we spend on defense and rebounding," Koopman said. "We body up on people and we're constantly belly-aching, 'Get to the boards, get to the boards.' "They also know when they come off the court that the two things I'm going to yell at them about are defense and rebounding if they're not doing it." "In the second half they were one and done," Bronkema added. "That affected their game. When they weren't shooting well, that iced them." The main focus of the Ramblers' defensive effort was Suttons Bay senior point guard Tyler Sanborn. Sanborn finished with 11 points, but McBain junior Shawn Mulder made him work for every one of those. "He took some shots from guys coming off all those picks," Koopman said. "We call him the Glove." "They did a great job on Tyler and overall," Hursey said. "He was outstanding," Bronkema added. "He played great defense on Sanborn - their best player - and I don't know if he had a turnover." On offense McBain was led by Andy Gilde, the lone senior starter for the Ramblers. Gilde finished with 20 points to lead the way for McBain. "Andy Gilde is just a tremendous athlete," Koopman said. "I think the biggest thing about him is when he's in the game, everyone feels comfortable. "If you watch us, when he's out of the game we're a little restless. He was with us last year (when McBain won the state title). He's been through the wars and he's done a tremendous job." Gilde's steadying influence has been felt by a McBain team that started the season slow. "We were 5-4 at one time," Koopman said. "We had some doubts; we had some questions about how we were going to do and how we were going to perform. "Our guys have just settled in." Bronkema added 11 points and Kevin Boven 10 for McBain. Chad Nederhood chipped in with eight points. Keaton Smith and Jonathan Oltersdorf each had 12 points to pace the Norsemen, who started five seniors. Oltersdorf added seven rebounds, Smith six boards and Luke Mason three steals. "That's a good team we lost to," Hursey said. "But I'm so proud of the job this team has done this season. They exceeded a lot of expectations. "I don't expect this much this season and I think a lot of people that follow the team didn't expect this. They just didn't believe it."
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