Bloomfield Hills, Michigan -- The Lutheran North Mustangs got Jack Hilt back on the court and he led the team to a 56-54 win over the Cranbrook-Kingswood Cranes in Catholic League Intersectional play on Tuesday.
Hilt, a forward, has been absent for the last few weeks with a broken jaw. Meanwhile, Lutheran North's leading scorer Drew Arft missed the game with a knee injury. Eli Thaut helped with the absence of Arft by breaking down the defense, driving to the lane and knocking down a handful of free throws in the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs (9-2), coached by Kevin Murawski, owned a 29-27 lead over the Cranes at halftime and then scored 15 points in the third quarter with 12 of those points coming off the hot hand of Hilt. The junior finished the game with 15 points on seven two-point shots and one free throw.
Thaut was the key player in the fourth quarter as he helped the Mustangs seal the deal with six made free throws. He recorded the second most points on the team with 14 in the game. Besides scoring, the junior logged a handful of assists and pulled down a few rebounds. Senior forward Adam Collins scored eight points in the win.
“He’s extremely important,” Murawski said of Thaut. “He was our starting point guard last year, he runs our offense, gets us where we need to be offensively. Defensively, he’s solid and is just somebody I can count on every day for good effort and good play.”
Tim Hauxwell led the way for the Cranes (5-5) with 29 points, while Kobi Russsell added 14 points, but shot a weak 3-for-8 from the charity stripe. Besides those two, Cranbrook struggled to get much going on the offensive side of the game.
Lutheran North will host the Our Lady of the Lakes Lakers at home on Friday, while Cranbrook will travel to play the Everest Collegiate Mountaineers. Our Lady of the Lakes are led by Andrew Kline, Clay Senerius and Devin Senerius and will look for revenge as the Mustangs defeated the Lakers earlier in the season.