The difference between the Henry Ford II Falcons and the Anchor Bay Tars on Wednesday night is that one team had Eli Miller.

The Falcon senior was the only player in the game who scored in double figures, pouring in 15 points to help lead HFII to their third-straight win to open their Macomb Area Conference Blue schedule, beating the Tars 43-35.

“I think we’ve hidden that we’ve had one of the best players in the MAC the last two years,” said Ford head coach Jeremy Denha. “I think he’s proven that against everybody, everybody we play. He’s a walking double-double and we’re glad we have the rest of the season with him, at minimum.”

The score says it all — both teams brought their best on defense. Anchor Bay (3-7, 1-2 Blue) deployed a starting lineup that looked more like it came off a college campus than out of New Baltimore, choosing to play big in hopes of disrupting the Falcons.

It worked — with their roster composed of seven players listed at 6-foot-4 or taller, including a pair of starting bigs — Tyler Finkbeiner and Simon Stockwell — who are 6-foot-7. They used that height and length inside a 1-3-1 zone scheme to disrupt passing lanes and make things especially challenging for cutters and post players.

“To hold them to 43 points is fantastic on the road,” said AB head coach Jay Seletsky. “I can’t ask for anything more.”

Miller and AJ Johnson each scored five points for Ford in the first quarter. And while Miller’s scoring didn’t taper off — he had five more in the second — Johnson’s, one of the team’s leading scorers, did. He didn’t score another bucket and finished with just eight points.

Despite making a halftime adjustment to move earlier and more often, the Falcons struggled to swing the ball in the half court. Anchor Bay’s height allowed them to interfere in passing lanes and even deny them entirely, which caused Ford players to force passes that weren’t there, leading to turnovers.

But while Ford’s offense struggled with their opposition’s defense, Anchor Bay had an even worse time getting on the board, failing to score more than eight points in a single quarter until the fourth.

However, despite not crossing the 30 point mark until the fourth quarter, the Tars held the Falcons scoreless from the final few minutes of the third quarter all the way until the 3:01 mark of the fourth, when Miller gave Ford their first points of the period by making three free throws.

With 1:43 to go, Eli Harris made the team’s first 3-pointer since the second quarter — and first bucket of the quarter — to get Ford’s lead back to double digits at 42-31, ending the threat.

“They’re (Anchor Bay’s) huge and athletic,” Denha said. “They went hard today, man. That’s a really good basketball team. They’re better than what their record says. They competed. They were flying around. For that last 12 minutes, I mean, they trapped us every possession.”

Anchor Bay made just two 3-pointers themselves, and while the Falcons shot 9-for-13 from the free throw line (Miller himself was 6-for-7), the Tars went 5-for-10.

“I think when our guys have the vision and work within ‘inside out’ with our bigs, meaning the high post, low post, and then get and get a kick for a 3 or a dribble penetrate, that’s when we’re at our best (offensively),” Seletsky said. “When we try to catch and try to dribble and over dribble, that’s when we’re at our worst.”

Zach Norman’s eight points led the Tars. Stockwell and Karsen Thomas each had seven, Jamil Phillips had five and four other players had two points.

The win moves Ford to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the MAC Blue, also holding wins over L’Anse Creuse and Grosse Pointe North.

But instead of feeling good or like they’re on the right track to get where they want to go, Denha and the Falcons are keeping their eyes ahead.

“We feel nothing,” Denha said. “After every game we enjoy wins whether we feel like they’re pretty or ugly, but we just know that we got to peak at the right time. We got to peak in February. These boys know that that’s the way we think with our work every day. So I like who we are. Lot of season left to get better.”