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POWERS -- The start of the new year has been successful thus far for the Menominee boys basketball team as the Maroons picked up their second win as many days over North Central on Friday.
Coming off the heels of a 67-48 victory on Thursday against Marinette, Menominee fell behind 17-11 in the first quarter but fought back to take a 31-25 halftime lead. In the second half, Menominee senior Keagan Monroe and sophomore Aidan Bellisle did all they could as Monroe finished with a season-high 30 points and Bellisle recorded his first career triple double (11 points, 11 assists, 15 rebounds) and the Maroons improved to 2-0 in 2020 with a 62-59 win over the Jets.
"I thought we came out with a little lackluster intensity in the first quarter which is probably partially due to having a game last night, but I was really impressed with how we got it going in the second quarter," Menominee coach Sam Larson said. "Our defensive pressure and help-side defense got a little bit better and then we started to get out in transition because we were able to get stops. And when we get out in transition, we're pretty good if we have Keagan and Aidan running the floor and pushing the ball like they did tonight."
North Central freshman Luke Gorzinski scored the first 11 points of the game for the Jets as they led 11-9 before senior Noah Gorzinski scored on a drive to the hoop to take a 13-9 advantage. Another basket from Luke and Noah pushed the lead to 17-9 before a turnaround jumper from Monroe made it 17-11 at the end of the first.
Menominee sophomore Cooper Conway got free for a basket inside off a set play and lost his defender at the top of the key for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 17-16 to start the second quarter. After a North Central turnover and a timeout, Monroe came down with an alley-oop for a basket, drilled a 3-pointer and Bellisle made two free throws as the Maroons claimed a 23-17 lead with 4:31 left in the second quarter.
Junior Carter Eichmeier finally got the Jets on the board at the 3:25 mark with a basket inside, but due to Menominee making some adjustments to combat allowing 17 points in the first quarter, North Central had a tough time getting anything to fall in the second.
"We gave up 17 points in the first and our weak side help was nonexistent. I didn't think our focus was very good, our discipline to our defensive principles wasn't very good so in the second quarter, we started to shift guys over toward the midline a little bit to provide some inside help -- especially against the Gorzinski's. Those are two really good players and they can get to the hole, so we wanted to provide early help and not help under the basket and we did that much better," Larson said.
Noah Gorzinski scored the final six points of the quarter for the Jets including a tip in just before the buzzer sounded to end the half, but Menominee still held a six-point lead as the Maroons outscored North Central 20-8 in the second quarter.
"We were getting some good looks but we just weren't hitting them," North Central coach Mike Malone said. "It's tough to get up when you get a couple of uncontested looks in a row and you miss every one of them. But my guys didn't lay down and they played their tails off all game. We just ran out of time."
Menominee used a full-court press to start the third quarter after a made basket to apply some pressure to North Central's ball handlers, and it worked as the Maroons forced a few turnovers that led to some easy breakaway buckets -- including a one-handed tomahawk jam by Monroe over a North Central defender that turned into a three-point play.
Luke Gorzinski answered Monroe's 7-0 run with a 5-0 run of his own and Noah made two free throws to cut the lead to 38-32, but baskets from Monroe and senior Dante Sartorelli and a corner triple from sophomore Brady Badker (all assisted by Bellisle) gave Menominee its biggest lead of the night, 45-32.
North Central entered the bonus late in the third quarter and took advantage of it to start the fourth, going to the line three times and making 5-of-6 attempts and a basket from freshman Wyatt Riley got the score to 47-42.
After a timeout by Menominee to stop the run, Bellisle scored on two straight trips and Monroe knocked down a pull up jumper followed by a basket and another breakaway dunk to hike the lead back up to 57-44 with under four minutes remaining.
With time running out, North Central slowly started to climb back in the game by applying some full-court pressure of its own and after Noah Gorzinski completed a three-point play with just over a minute to play, Menominee's lead had been cut to 60-55 and the game was going to come down to the free throw line.
Senior Brock Barrette knocked down two huge free throws for Menominee in the final 45 seconds and the Maroons defense stood strong to hold on for the win.
It's not often that a high school player accomplishes the feat of securing a triple double, and after the game Bellisle, while happy with his own performance, was just happy to see his team get another win.
The Gorzinski's led the way for North Central, with Luke totaling 26 points and Noah adding 23 for the game.
North Central goes to Norway on Monday while Menominee is off until Saturday when the Maroons travel to Oshkosh for neutral-site game against Omro.
Menominee -- Monroe 30, Bellisle 11, Conway 5, Uecke 5, Barrette 4, Badker 3. FTs: 7-11.
North Central -- L. Gorzinski 26, N. Gorzinski 23, Eichmeier 8, Riley 2. FTs: 15-20.