Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone’s Jarret St. John (30) shoots a contested lay-up as Manistique’s Wyatt Gierke (14) jumps to defend Thursday at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — Reece Castor broke Doug Ingalls’s record for career points scored and Gladstone demolished Manistique 71-28 here Thursday.

Castor drilled a three-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer to break the record and was honored by athletic director Andy Jacques before the teams went into the locker room for the intermission.

“We don’t plan for those things to happen on purpose,” Braves’ coach Dane Quigley said. “But it couldn’t have happened a more perfect way for a more deserving kid.”

The Braves (1-1) started out really slow, trailing the Emeralds 11-10 after the first quarter. But then they woke up in the second behind the play of Castor and more intense defense as they outscored Manistique 19-5 in the period to take a 13-point lead into the half.

The Braves also used a press in the period, which proved to be effective, as the Emeralds committed many turnovers around midcourt.

The Braves scored 13 in a row at one point in the second quarter to go ahead and take the lead for good. Manistique finally scored with 1:51 left to stop the run and pull within 10.

“I think we finally locked down on defense there,” Castor said. “We locked down on defense and our defense turned into offense.”

The Braves used another gigantic 20-point quarter in the third to stretch their lead to 59-25 and dominated again in the fourth with a running clock.

“We wanted to clean some things up a little bit there,” Quigley said. “It’s good to wear off the early season jitters. I told the guys at halftime that we just needed to slow down and let the game come to them. I think we did that and it showed itself.”

It was a rough night for the Emeralds, who came out hustling and beating the Braves to the loose balls in the first quarter. However, things went south quickly from that point on.

“We didn’t make any shots,” Emeralds’ coach Bill Boddy said after his debut as head coach. “It’s tough to win when you only score 28 points.

“We got tired at the end of the first quarter and that played right into their hands because they wanted to run. It kind of got ugly from there.”

Castor scored 34 for the Braves to lead the way with 15 points coming on three-pointers. Noah Ballard chipped in with 11.

Kanton Lauzon led the Emeralds with nine points. Wyatt Gierke, a former Gladstone player, added seven.

Gladstone is at Ishpeming Tuesday, while Manistique visits Iron Mountain.

Manistique 11 5 9 3 — 28

Gladstone 10 19 20 12 — 71

Manistique — Lauzon 9, Gierke 7, Andersen 5, Marine 2, Waren 2, Hoholik 2, Oas 1. FT: 4-7; F: 10; 3-point field goals — Andersen.

Gladstone — Castor 34, Ballard 11, Hagebusch 6, Shea 6, Downey 4, McKnight 4, Crow 2, Alworden 2. FT: 8-11; F: 9; 3-point field goals — Castor 5, Ballard.