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That is not necessarily Garnett Kohler's total theory to winning basketball games, but it helped Saturday afternoon in an upset of Memphis. The Peck Pirates, with 10 different players, turned up the man defense to stall the Yellowjackets attack, 45-37, in a crucial, early NCTL South clash. The game was moved to Saturday after being postponed last Tuesday night.

The win put Peck at 3-0 in the South and overall while Memphis, a preseason favorite, dipped to 1-2.

From the start on Saturday, the Pirates applied the man-to-man defense that limited the 'Jackets to just 20 points in the first three quarters. They led by 15, 29-14, after two quarters.

"We played real good defense, especially in the first three quarters," explained Kohler, the rookie varsity coach of the Pirates. "We played all man...and their two main players, we held down. (Devon) Kling, who had been averaging 17 a game, we held to eight, and (Ben) Abraham only had six in the first three quarters."

Kohler said he rotated A.J. Kiley, Tim Zacharias and Nathan Kreiner on Kling and Bryan Carrier, Josh Williams and Jesse Germain on Abraham.

"Our bench came in and did a really good job. It just didn't show up in the scoring column. Nathan Kreiner and Josh Williams played well and Jordan Alexander came in towards the end, when Memphis was trying to pressure us, and handled the ball well."

Carrier, a 6'5" senior, made his presence known under the boards, by scoring 10 points and hauling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior guard Michael Mann led in scoring with 12 points and also had eight rebounds and three steals.

Billy Burns totaled four steals and five rebounds and Zac Overtreet helped with seven boards. Both are juniors.

Kohler said it was nice to get off to a fast start in the NCTL. "This was a big win for us. Most papers had (Memphis) picked to win the league. So, any time you can knock off a top team like that, it's a big confidence booster for our guys. They know they can compete with anybody in the league."

The Pirates should get a good test at home this Friday night against North Huron (1-1), one off the taller teams in the conference. They will compete in the Pioneer Sugar Tournament over the holidays and will host the semifinals on Thurs., Dec. 27. The consolation and championship games then move to Harbor Beach on Fri., Dec. 28.