Irvin's big night pushes Tawas to rivalry win against Oscoda

Owen Irvin had a big decision to make when he was a 12 year old. No, seriously. Irvin grew up and lived in Oscoda while attending a private Lutheran school in Tawas City. After sixth grade his mom and step-dad along with Irvin decided it was best to move down to East Tawas and for Owen to go to Tawas schools which wasn’t easy for him.

“I had friends down here in Tawas, but I also had a lot of friends up in Oscoda. Grant Huebul and Nate Nagel I was pretty close with so it was kind of hard making the move, but worth it.”

Since making the move to Tawas, Owen has starred on the football, basketball, and baseball teams and has been apart of some very good teams among his three sports but basketball has always been his go-to sport. Getting the tournament call-up as a freshman he was apart two district championship teams and a district final finish last year after moving up to Class B. That brings us to the last night’s game.

The game which pitted Tawas (1-4) against Oscoda (4-0) saw a close game with no team able to pull away from the other.

In the first quarter Oscoda fired from deep early and looked like it could be a long night for Tawas. In the final 10 seconds everything changed. Oscoda looking to get the last shot of the quarter and expand a 15-11 lead, Michael Anderson picked off a lazy pass and ran down the court and fired a three at the buzzer to pull the Braves within one, and seemingly brought the Braves momentum.

The second quarter saw the Braves win the quarter 8-6 to give them a one point lead at the half 22-21. At the half Irvin and Huebul led their teams with 11 points apiece.

The third quarter was a back and forth affair with Tawas getting it’s lead up to nine before settling for a three point lead up 37-34 going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter was again a back and forth contest with Tawas holding on to a 49-47 with 23 seconds to go. When Huebul got the ball in the corner for a three and drilled it to give Oscoda a one point 50-49 lead. It may have been a little premature though as Irvin got the ball on the inbound and raced down the court beating all the Owl defenders and finishing the floater to give the lead back to the Braves 51-50. Oscoda had a chance with 11 seconds left to get the lead but a travel violation at the buzzer secured the one point victory for Irvin and the Braves.

Irvin’s big game-winning shot was a result of a pretty simple game plan and showed his basketball IQ.

“They had just taken the lead and I knew they were probably really busy celebrating because they thought they had just won, so I just wanted to get the ball down the court quick and get to the basket and that’s what I did.”

With all the accomplishments on the court Irvin has had, nothing feels sweeter than beating Oscoda he says.

“I’m from Oscoda, and that’s always the two biggest games on the schedule for me. They came in tonight 4-0 and thought they were going to run all over us, but it’s a rivalry, anything can happen.”

Irvin also had some good things to say about his friend Grant Huebul from Oscoda.

“Grant is still one of my friends, even though we go to different schools. I love playing against him, he’s a competitor and never quits and he showed that tonight.”

Tawas was led by Irvin with 24 points while Anderson chipped in 9. Oscoda was led by Huebul with 22 while getting 11 from Brayden Mallak.

Tawas improves to 2-4 after picking up two wins this week after an 0-4 start and return to action January 9th at Alpena. The first loss of the season for the Owls has them at a 4-1 record with a trip down to Little Caesars Arena on December 30th against Alcona.