Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Rapid River’s Max Lenaker shoots over Bark River-Harris’ Emmanuel Peterson during Thursday’s game in Rapid River. Looking on is official Nick Nolde.

RAPID RIVER — On a night when there was an abundance of offense on both sides, it was a pair of unlikely heroes who stepped up for the U.P.’s fifth-ranked Rapid River Rockets in an 81-65 boys basketball victory over Bark River-Harris Thursday in Rapid River.

With normal starter Mason Kudlick out with an ankle injury, Braydon Moss and Max Lenaker took on a much bigger role. They came through, finishing with a combined 35 points and four triples in the fourth quarter as the Rockets pulled away in this Skyline Central Conference contest.

“Moss really opened up tonight,” Rockets coach Mitch Hall said. “We had a little talk and we wanted him to get on the points a little bit more. We know he’s capable, he’s a really good shooter. Tonight, he just took his opportunities and did well, and so did Max.”

Each team struggled to stop the other all night, as the Rockets (6-3, 5-3 SC) led 52-50 entering the fourth quarter.

Zach Robinette gave the Broncos (5-3, 5-3 SC) a 58-57 lead with a triple with 5:50 left to play, but after Tony DeMars gave the Rockets the lead back on the other end, Lenaker drilled back-to-back 3-pointers from the right and left corner to spark a 24-7 Rockets’ run to finish the game.

“It was real big,” Hall said. “One of our starters for seven games just went down two days ago. It was a fight in practice to see who was going to take that spot. We had a little bit of a rotation … the ball didn’t quite go down for some of the other guys, but it really fell for Max tonight.”

BR-H still had a chance when it cut its deficit to 67-62 after a free throw by Carter Zawacki, but Moss drilled his second triple of the quarter with 2:40 remaining. Tyler Sundling then came up with a blocked shot and finished with a layup on the other end to put the Rockets up 72-62.

“(This win) was huge. It is big for the team,” Hall said. “They really wanted this one, they knew how important it was. Coming off the North Central game (a 66-54 loss Monday), I didn’t think we had our best game, so we worked real hard here for two days in practice and came out and represented well.”

The Broncos jumped out to a 9-4 lead when Riley Bray threw a beautiful no-look pass to Nick Javurek for a layup with 5:41 left in the first quarter.

Despite the Rockets taking a 37-30 lead into halftime, BR-H dominated inside in the third quarter to trail by just two entering the fourth.

“What hurt us in the second half was we got into the track meet with them,” BR-H coach Marc Zawacki said. “What we should have been doing was slowing it down and being a little more methodical on our end. We lost a little focus there trying to get in our half-court sets. I think we wanted to push the ball a little too much when we should be slowing it down and setting it up a little bit.”

Sundling had a monster game to lead the Rockets, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and six assists. Moss added 18 points and four triples, while Lenaker chipped in 17 points, two steals, two assists and two rebounds. DeMars had 14 points and five blocks.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Broncos, who were led by Bray with 14 and Robinette with 13. Trenton Wood-Keshick added 12, while Javurek and Zawacki each had 10.

The Rockets shot 30 for 50 from the field for 60% while committing 11 turnovers. BR-H shot 26 for 60 from the field, had 13 miscues and held a 24-22 rebounding advantage.

“We told the kids it’s just a bump in the road,” coach Zawacki said. “We’re going to have growing pains, we are a young team, but at some point we have to mature. We can’t be leaning on that too hard — being a young team. There’s going to come a time where it’s time to put up and we gotta grow. I’m hoping that’s coming — we keep working on it.”

The Rockets, who won the JV game 54-35, host Stephenson Tuesday. BR-H visits Norway Monday.

BR-Harris 16 14 20 15 — 65

Rapid River 18 19 15 29 — 81

Bark River-Harris — Bray 14, Z. Robinette 13, Javurek 10, Wood-Keshick 12, Zawacki 10. FT: 8-16; F: 19; Fouled out: Peterson. 3-point field goals: Bray 3, Z. Robinette 2.

Rapid River — Sundling 27, Moss 18, Micheau 1, Flath 4, DeMars 14, M. Lenaker 17. FT: 13-18; F: 13; Fouled out: None. 3-point field goals: Moss 4, Sundling 2, M. Lenaker 2.