×

Sizzling Braves trample Ems

Avery Bundgaard | Daily Press Gladstone’s Jeff Stenson goes up for a layup while Manistique’s Logan MacPhail defends Tuesday at Manistique.

MANISTIQUE — The Gladstone boys basketball team saw some hot shooting and a big third quarter on its way to a convincing 75-38 win over Manistique Tuesday.

The Braves (15-5) shot 31 of 55 (56 percent) in this non-conference game as they finished the regular season on a three-game win streak heading into districts.

All 14 players saw playing time for Gladstone and 12 scored.

Sophomore Reece Castor led the Braves with 14 points. Sophomore Rudy Peterson had 13 points while senior Ben Schwalbach had 11 and junior Brad Spindler added 10.

“Today was about getting everybody involved,” said Gladstone coach Clayton Castor. “To get out there and get a cushion so we could get everybody one though 14 out there. They work so hard all season. To us we really believe our 14th player is just as important as our first player. They may not see the same playing time so we wanted to reward them and get them that playing time tonight.”

Manistique (1-19) coach Ed Marietti was not pleased the way his team closed out its season.

“We didn’t play at all,” said Marietti. “We didn’t handle their pressure well and we didn’t handle their tight man-to-man very well. We just threw the ball away and just never got back on defense. It was a total team effort of doing nothing.”

The Braves got off to a hot start as they began on a 10-0 run as they hit four of their first five shots. Manistique missed its first five shots.

The Emeralds settled down after that opening stretch and cut the deficit to 18-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Manistique kept hovering around Gladstone in the second quarter until the Braves ended the quarter on a 6-0 run for a 34-17 halftime lead.

The Braves really put the game away in the third quarter as they created nine turnovers and scored eight fastbreak points off those turnovers. Gladstone shot 11 of 15 (73 percent) in the third quarter to take a 57-25 lead into the final quarter.

“We always talk about our defense driving our offense,” said coach Castor. “Any time that we struggled this year is when we couldn’t get stops and get out and run. I thought the kids did a good job moving the ball and making their shots.”

The Emeralds came out with a little more fire in the fourth quarter as junior Logan Pawley scored Manistique’s first eight points. Pawley scored all his team leading 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“He had some nice buckets and he worked for them,” said Marietti. “But that’s few and far between. That’s the problem. We don’t have a very good solid offensive threat. We got one or two guys but we’re very inconsistent on the offensive end.”

Manistique opens up district play Monday when they travel to Newberry to meet St. Ignace.

Gladstone opens district play on the same night at Escanaba.

Gladstone 18 16 23 18 — 75

Manistique 10 7 8 13 — 38

Gladstone — Wolf 2, Gibbs 7, Botruff 4, Peterson 13, Spindler 10, Hanson 2, Stenson 2, Ness 4, Schwalbach 11, Castor 14, Lamberg 4, Holm 2; FT: 9-12; F: 15; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Peterson 3, Schwalbach 1.

Manistique — Hoholik 7, Arnold 2, Nichols 3, Armock 5, MacPhail 2, J. Seeley 2, Pawley 10, Smith 6, K. Seeley 2; FT: 3-9; F: 14; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Hoholik 1, Armock 1.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today