EagleHerald/Stephen Oman Gladstone’s Owen Hanson leads a fast break against Menominee Friday at Menominee High School.

MENOMINEE — Gladstone rained on Menominee’s winter homecoming parade to the tune of a 72-35 boys’ basketball victory Friday.

The Braves held a 34-15 lead at the half and really pulled away in the third quarter thanks in part to Gladstone sharpshooter Rudy Peterson knocking down four 3-pointers in the third.

“We hit some shots,” Gladstone coach Dane Quigley said. “Rudy Peterson struggled a little with his shot in the first half, but he came out and knocked down four 3s in the third quarter. That kind of changed the half.

“When you knock down shots, it makes us look good.”

The Braves used a 1-3-1 press to badger the Maroons, and Gladstone got out to a 19-9 lead after the first quarter.

“We were tentative handling (the press), and the times that we did make the right read we threw a careless pass,” Menominee coach Sam Larson said. “We didn’t have enough ball reversals. That really hurt us.”

Menominee did get the ball to Kyle Anderson underneath the hoop for a couple easy baskets against the press. He finished with a team-high 15 points.

“We need to get Kyle the basketball more,” Larson said. “He’s smart and does a nice job with the ball in his hands. He usually makes the correct read, and he’s one of our better scorers.”

The Maroons were limited to six points in the second quarter as the Braves took a 34-15 lead into the locker room.

Gladstone started the second half on a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach early. Peterson hit three of his four third-quarter 3s in that stretch.

“He’s a great shooter, and we talked about recognizing where he is before the game,” Larson said. “In the third quarter we were no where near him.”

Gladstone stretched the lead to 36 midway through the third.

“I thought we played some really good defense,” Quigley said. “Our 1-3-1 full-court pressure bothered Menominee a little bit. We had to make a few adjustments on that at halftime, and we did a much better job in the third quarter.”

The Braves had four double-digit scorers led by Rece Castor with 16 points. Peterson had 14, as did Brad Spindler and Carson Shea added 10.

“That’s what we aim for, spreading the wealth,” Quigley said. “It’s hard to beat a team with four guys in double figures.”

The Braves removed most of the starting unit late in the third quarter, and the Maroons were rotating their entire roster all night.

“We don’t really have a first team and a second team,” Larson said.“We’re just trying to find a group of guys that really wants to be out there and compete. I thought we really lacked intensity tonight. We didn’t provide much resistance or fight back at all. So we were just trying to find guys who were willing to go out there and play hard.”

Gladstone also won the junior varsity game, 53-35. Jarret St. John led the Braves with 17 points, and Cameron Ballard chipped in 15. For the Maroons, Keaton Uecke and Zachary Starzynski each had 11.

Gladstone 19 16 28 8 – 72

Menominee 9 6 11 9 – 35

Gladstone — Lamberg 5, Shea 10, Peterson 14, Spindler 14, Hanson 4, Ness 9, Castor 16; FT: 6-11

Menominee — Monroe 2, Kuester 6, Anderson 15, Hornick 4, Harris 1, Bigger 2, Russell 5; FT: 4-8