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Eskymos capture district title

Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press The Escanaba basketball team celebrates their Division 2 district championship victory over Gladstone Friday night at Gladstone. Pictured from left: Peyton Fedell, Brandon Frazer, Tyler McDonald, Matthew Seymour, Zachary Rose, Carter Hudson, Terence Hirn, Craig Kamin, Ben Willis, Jared Nash, Austin Willette, Gabriel Smith, Garrett LaMarche, Garrett Johnson and Bryant Maki.

GLADSTONE — Escanaba’s boys reaped the benefits of a balanced scoring attack here Friday night, earning their first district basketball title in four years with an 80-62 triumph over the fourth-ranked Gladstone Braves in a Division 2 final.

The victory sends the Eskymos (13-8) to the regional tournament opener at Petoskey where they’ll meet Boyne City (15-8) Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Esky, which scored five in double digits, grabbed a 14-4 lead on a lay-in by senior forward Jared Nash with two minutes left in the first quarter.

“It was pretty important for us to get a good start,” said Nash, who scored 16 points. “Once you get that, you can maintain the lead if you run your offense and play good defense. At the end of the day, it’s not just one player that’s going to win you the district.”

Esky led 16-8 after the first quarter and 30-20 at halftime.

“It felt like our team worked well together,” said senior guard Craig Kamin, who sank 11-of-13 free throws in the fourth quarter and led the Eskymos with 22 points.

“We wanted to get started the same way we did at Kingsford (in Wednesday’s 69-47 triumph). We needed to get on top. It felt like we got them to go faster than they wanted. We were up at the half the last time we played them (in a 66-62 loss Feb. 22). We knew we needed to finish this time.”

Senior center Austin Willette hit 13 points. Sophomore forward Carter Hudson added 12 and junior guard Peyton Fedell had 10.

“I’m very happy with our balance,” said Esky coach Tracy Hudson. “We wanted to be the best team out there tonight and it felt like we got off to a good start.”

Esky expanded its lead to 48-35 on a lay-in by Nash late in the third frame.

The Braves (14-8) scored the next four points, trimming their deficit to 48-39 on a pair of free throws by senior guard Carson Shea early in the fourth.

Esky responded with nine unanswered points, gaining an insurmountable 57-39 cushion on a pair of gifters by Kamin with 5:35 remaining.

“We made a couple runs, but we never could put anything together,” said Braves’ coach Dane Quigley. “Esky was too much for us tonight. I thought some of our guys were a little timid at first. We didn’t do a good job attacking their (1-3-1 and 2-3) zone.”

Northern Michigan University recruit Reece Castor paced Gladstone with 30 points. Crow finished with 11 and Shea had 10.

“We basically wanted to keep Castor away from the basket,” said coach Hudson.

“We had to protect the basket. We got 12 steals and eight deflections with most of those off our 1-3-1. I don’t think it disrupted Reece so much, but I think it disrupted some of their other guys.”

The Eskymos held a 26-25 rebounding edge, sank 21-of-29 free throws, including 16-of-19 in the final eight minutes, and committed 22 turnovers.

“Our guys really worked hard on the boards.” said coach Hudson. “Craig did a good job attacking the basket and Brandon Frazer did a pretty good job for only his second varsity game. They made a charge at us in the fourth quarter, but we held our composure and we hit our free throws. I thought we shot the ball real well. We were concerned about our turnovers. We had too many of those. We need to clean some of those up.”

Gladstone was 18-of-25 from the line, including a 9-of-12 effort in the fourth quarter, and had 19 miscues.

“We shot well from the free throw line tonight,” said Quigley. “We just couldn’t get some of the other shots to drop.

“Lots of our seniors stepped up throughout the year. We played pretty good in the second half of the season, only we didn’t get it done tonight when we really needed it. It just wasn’t our night.”

Escanaba 16 14 18 32 — 80

Gladstone 8 12 15 27 — 62

Escanaba — Fedell 10, Kamin 22, Frazer 4, Hudson 12, Hirn 3, Nash 16, Willette 13. FT: 21-29; F: 21; Fouled out: Nash; 3-point field goals: Hudson 3, Fedell 2, Kamin, Hirn.

Gladstone — Downey 2, McKnight 2, Peterson 2, Shea 10, Rane Castor 3, Reece Castor 30, Crow 11. FT: 18-25; F: 21; Fouled out: Crow; 3-point field goals: Reece Castor 2, Rane Castor, Crow.

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