Noruk scores 20 in return to lift Lake Orion Baptist
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
LAKE ORION — Welcome back, James Noruk.
The junior guard from Lake Orion Baptist made his season debut Thursday after being ineligible for the first semester, scoring a game-high 20 points in leading the Lions to a 48-41 Fundamental Baptist Athletic Conference Red Division victory over visiting Clinton Township Faith Christian.
It marked just the second win of the season for the Lions, both over Faith Christian, which is also going through a rebuilding campaign.
The Lions (2-4, 2-3), which scheduled a bulk of their games in the second semester, were depleted after last season, graduating three starters, plus having 6-foot-6 junior center Bradley Watterworth transfer to neighboring Lake Orion High School. The 5-10 Noruk was the only returning starter and he missed his team’s first five games.
“It’s great to have him back. He’s our scorer,” admitted veteran coach Joe Bullen of Noruk. “We really need him out there,.”
As luck would have it, senior point guard Conner Welby, one of the few players that saw significant minutes last season, was in Lansing for a state-wide music festival and missed Thursday’s game. Freshman Mark Dewar slid over to the point guard spot and helped the Lions hold the fort.
“Mark did a good job running the point,” said Bullen. “We really missed Conner, but this was a big music event. He missed a game for it last year, too. It was good timing to have James Noruk back for this game. If we didn’t have Conner and James, then we might have been in trouble. We ran out of agas a little bvit in the fourth quarter.”
Lake Orion Baptist, which reached the state semifinals of the Michigan Association of Christian School Division I tournament last season before falling to Temperance Stateline Christian, found itself in a 15-9 hole at the end of the first quarter. The Lions responded with a 17-4 second-quarter run to take a 26-19 lead into the locker room.
Lake Orion Baptist led 39-30 entering the fourth quarter before the winless Patriots (0-8, 0-4) closed with an 11-9 edge in the final eight minutes.
Senior forward Nathan Shefcyk, the team’s tallest player at only 6-1, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for a pair of career highs. Dewar added seven points and seven assists and sophomore forward Ben Case scored six for the Lions.
“We are very young. We only have the two seniors, we have two juniors, a sophomore and three freshmen (on varsity),” offered Bullen. “So you can see we are young. We lost a lot of quality players from last season. But we’re coming along. We’re getting better. Having our full team next week is going to help us a great deal.”
Sophomore guard Trevor Johnson scored 17 for Faith Christian.
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Category: Lake Orion Baptist, Lake Orion Shalom Baptist, Prep Wraps
