Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone’s Rane Castor blocks a shot by Escanaba’s Carter Hudson during Friday’s game in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — Senior guard Caden Alworden cashed in on a four-point play at crunch time on Senior Night here Friday, helping the Gladstone boys rally past fourth-ranked Escanaba 73-67 in a Great Northern Conference basketball match-up.

Gladstone was trailing 67-66 with 38 seconds left to play before Alworden drained a 20-foot jump shot from the right wing on a pass from junior guard Cam Ballard, then sank a free throw to put the Braves up 70-67.

“When I caught the ball, I just let it fly and it went in,” said Alworden. “That was a confidence boost for sure. We had been working so hard in practice for Esky. We keyed on some of their best players and kept the pressure on Carter (Hudson).”

Ballard then hit three free throws in the final 19.7 seconds to seal the deal.

Esky led 65-60 following a putback by sophomore guard Colin Hudson with 1:55 left to play.

Junior forward Rane Castor then sank a jumper from top of the key to bring the Braves within 65-63.

“Rane had a huge game,” said Braves’ coach Dane Quigley. “He has played phenomenal the past couple weeks, but Caden had the play of the game. He held his composure on that shot and kept his focus on the line. We talked about how important it was to take care of the ball and what a play by Caden, and what a great game on Senior Night. I’m so proud of these guys. This is what they worked for. We have to give a lot of credit to these guys.”

Senior guard Peyton Fedell gave Esky a 67-63 lead on a pair of free throws at 1:42.

Ballard hit two gifters three seconds later and Castor split a pair at 1:27 to bring Gladstone within 67-66.

Gladstone converted 21-of-25 free throws. Esky finished 13-of-20 from the line, but missed four in the final minute.

“The biggest thing is we made some mistakes on the perimeter,” said Esky coach Tracy Hudson. “We also didn’t take care of the ball and hit our free throws. I thought Gladstone played a great game. They created turnovers. This is a hard one for us to swallow, but maybe this is a wake-up call before (Division 2) districts. We still had a nice regular season. We did pretty well in the conference. We talked about the people we had stop and we didn’t stop them. We gave up the 3-point shots and those killed us.”

The Eskymos led 30-24 following a jumper from the left corner by Fedell with 40 seconds left in the second stanza.

Junior guard Ryan Polley trimmed Gladstone’s deficit to 30-27 on a 20-foot jumper 18 seconds before halftime and Castor’s jumper from the left corner tied the score early in the third.

The remainder of the contest was close throughout with neither team leading by more than five points.

“I thought our guys did a tremendous job defensively,” said Quigley. “Escanaba has a real good team. To hold them to 67 points is quite an accomplishment.”

Castor led the Braves (10-9 overall, 3-5 GNC) with 22 points. Ballard finished with 20 and Alworden had 11.

Colin Hudson paced the Eskymos (13-7 overall, 5-3 league) with 18 points. Fedell hit 15 and Frazer had 13. Carter Hudson was limited to a season-low four in their regular-season finale.

“They stayed within striking distance and Alworden had a great 4-point play,” said coach Hudson. “I would have liked to have seen us be a little more patient and go inside. We shot too many 3’s. I thought they did a good job keeping Carter out of the paint. He didn’t have his typical game and that hurt us. You have to play for 32 minutes. Gladstone did that and we didn’t.”

Esky held a 29-28 rebounding edge, hit 24-of-54 field goals and committed 17 turnovers. Gladstone was 22-of-51 from the field and had 16 miscues.

The Eskymos won the jayvee contest 71-57 and freshmen game 73-29.

Esky is idle until March 11 when it travels to Kingsford for its district opener. The Braves conclude their regular season Tuesday at top-ranked Iron Mountain.

Escanaba 16 14 19 18 — 67

Gladstone 12 15 21 25 — 73

Escanaba — Frazer 13, Fedell 15, Smale 3, Carter Hudson 4, Maki 8, Colin Hudson 18, Johnson 2, Hanson 4. FT: 13-20, F: 21; Fouled out: Frazer, Smale.

Gladstone — Alworden 11, St. John 4, Berube 2, C. Ballard 20, N. Ballard 6, Hagebusch 3, Polley 5. FT: 21-25; F: 16; Fouled out: Castor; 3-point field goals: Castor 3, Alworden 2, C. Ballard, Hagebusch, Polley.