Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Jarret St. John (12) shoots a layup against Negaunee’s Alex Munson (behind) and Drew DuShane (back right) as Negaunee’s Jakson Sager (2) looks on Thursday at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — Negaunee’s Jason Waterman used his skill from the outside — on his way to a 31-point game to tie his career-high — to help the No. 2 ranked Miners turn a hard-fought first half into a dominating second and a 78-61 victory at Gladstone Thursday.

Despite an 18-14 lead after the first quarter of the Mid-Peninsula Conference contest, the Braves (5-5, 4-3 M-PC) faced a renewed Miners’ push in the second.

“We played low-energy (in the first quarter),” Miners coach Dan Waterman said. “You’ve got to give Gladstone credit. They jumped all over us. We were down 8-0, and I’m burning timeouts like they’re going out of style. It was 100% energy related. I thought we did a better job as the half progressed — we kind of climbed back into it in the second quarter. Early in the game, we couldn’t make anything because we weren’t playing hard enough.”

Negaunee (10-0, 4-0 M-PC) started taking back the momentum with 4:30 left in the half when Waterman sank a triple to cut its deficit to 24-20. After Gladstone’s Cam Ballard responded with a jumper 30 seconds later, Waterman followed with another triple.

“Sometimes you just have to give your team a boost,” Jason Waterman said. “Luckily, the shots were falling tonight, so I just kept pulling, they kept going in and we started playing harder.

“Gladstone’s a good team. We came in here — it’s exam week, we’re thinking about the big match-up with Iron Mountain on Tuesday and there’s a million other things going on back in town — we probably weren’t as focused on the game as we could’ve been. It took us until almost halftime to snap out of it.”

Chas Kumpula hit another 3-pointer with just under a minute left in the half to give Negaunee its first lead at 33-31, but Ballard hit a jumper to tie it 33-33 entering halftime.

“That’s one thing I’m proud of — they kept fighting,” Braves coach Dane Quigley said. “These guys kept trying to come back, and I think earlier in the year (it would’ve affected us more). I’m proud of my guys. They worked their butts off, and we gave it our best shot. That’s a good ball club. They took our best punches and got back up.”

Negaunee started to pull away in the second half, taking a 39-35 lead two minutes into the third. Ballard sank a triple to bring Gladstone back within one, but the Miners closed the third on a 14-5 run.

Gladstone had an opportunity in the fourth when Jarret St. John scored inside to cut its deficit to 58-51, but the Braves struggled offensively the rest of the way as Negaunee went 14 for 16 from the free throw line in the period to seal the game.

“(Stability) is the benefit of having a bunch of seniors who’ve been through all those battles,” coach Waterman said. “They’ve seen everything, so it’s pretty hard to rattle them. I think they trust the system and each other, and that goes a long way in these situations.”

Drew Lindberg added 15 points for the Miners, while Drew DuShane collected 13. Jakson Sager finished with 10.

Ballard led the Braves with 20 points and four triples. Noah Ballard added 13, while St. John finished with 11.

“My guys wanted to showcase what they can do, and I think they put on a pretty good display tonight,” Quigley said. “They were looking for the opportunity to compete, and they came out and did it. I told them afterward that it wasn’t a game they could really hang their heads about. I didn’t have a negative thing to say when I walked into that locker room.”

Gladstone, which won the JV game, travels to Ishpeming Tuesday. Negaunee hosts Iron Mountain Tuesday in a showdown of a pair of undefeated teams.

Negaunee 14 19 20 25 — 78

Gladstone 18 15 10 18 — 61

Negaunee — Waterman 31, Lindberg 15, DuShane 13, Sager 10, Kumpula 5, Munson 2, Luke 2. F: 8; Fouled out: none; FT: 23-30; 3-point field goals: Waterman 3, Lindberg 1, Kumpula 1.

Gladstone — C. Ballard 20, N. Ballard 13, St. John 11, Alworden 6, Castor 6, Polley 3, Schwalbach 2. F: 22; Fouled out: Hughes; FT: 0-1; 3-point field goals: C. Ballard 4, St. John 1, N. Ballard 1, Polley 1.