Ron Deuter | Iron Mountain Daily News Escanaba’s Carter Hudson shoots against the defense of Kingsford’s Hunter Bilgreen during Wednesday’s district semifinal at Kingsford High School.

KINGSFORD — A scrappy effort by an outmatched Kingsford squad kept Wednesday’s Division 2 District 33 semifinal close for three quarters, but in the end, Escanaba’s size and experience carried the Eskymos to a chance at a district title.

Behind a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds by Carter Hudson, the Eskymos pulled away from the Flivvers 68-57 to advance to the district final set for Friday at Menominee. The Maroons eliminated Gladstone 54-41 Wednesday evening.

“I’m real happy with the performance,” Escanaba coach Tracy Hudson said.

“We didn’t care if we won by one or 20, we wanted to advance to the championship game.”

Peyton Fedell added 18 points and Brandon Frazer scored 11 for the Eskymos, who hit 19-of-21 at the foul line to help distance themselves from a Flivver squad determined to not go down without a fight.

“Kingsford brought it,” Hudson said. “They brought their A game. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They put it on the line with a very young team. They’ve come light years since the beginning of the season and found their identity. Coach (Dan) Olkkonen should be proud of them.”

Michael Meneguzzo led Kingsford with 13 points. Brody Kopp and Cole Bracket each added 10, as the Flivvers attacked the basket all game, despite having to contend with the 6-foot-7 Hudson and his younger brother Colin who stands 6-foot-5.

“Tonight came down to a perfect scenario of what it means to be a team,” Olkkonen said. “We were excited for that feeling, especially how hard the kids played. We worked on a lot of pressure defense stuff to get prepared for this game. I thought we did as good a job as we could as a team. I really did.”

The Flivvers fell into an 8-0 hole to start the game but put that pressure defense to work after that and forced Escanaba into several turnovers. A Meneguzzo triple late in the first capped an 11-2 Flivver run and put the home team ahead by a point.

It was game on after that, with Kingsford closing the first half with a three by Andrew Paupore for a four-point lead at the break.

“They’re all like 5-10, 5-11, but they run around and they press the whole game,” Hudson said. “They want to create chaos, but it’s organized chaos. They kicked our butt in the first half. We practiced the press break over and over again because we knew that’s what we’d have to deal with. But when we got undisciplined, when we got out of plays, they turned us over and made layups. They did a great job.”

Escanaba exceeded 20 turnovers in the game but cut the total as the game progressed. The Eskymos also tightened things up by switching to man defense in the second half, helping to limit Kingsford’s looks at the basket. Feeding Hudson helped too, the junior displaying his size and athleticism with a slam dunk in the third quarter.

“I thought we settled down in the second half,” Hudson said. “We did a lot better job of taking care of the ball. We went inside out and we hit our free throws and we were able to gradually pull away.”

Escanaba grabbed a five-point lead at the end of three and then expanded the margin to double figures in the fourth. Kingsford brought it within eight a couple of times down the stretch but couldn’t get closer with the Eskymos draining all their free throws.

The Flivvers struggled by going 3-of-10 at the line. The Eskymos height advantage resulted in a 3-to-1 edge on the glass.

“They have a lot of leadership out there,” Olkkonen said. “Fedell and (Brandon) Frazer lead that floor. They hardly got rattled. They weathered the storm, got some easy shots inside. Our tallest guy is 6 foot. We couldn’t out rebound them, so when they brought it down, we just had to fight, punch, kick, scrap, whatever.”

Escanaba 14 14 18 22 — 68

Kingsford 14 14 9 16 — 57

Escanaba — Frazer 11, Fedell 18, Smale 3, Carter Hudson 23, Maki 4, Hanson 4, Colin Hudson 5. FT: 19-21. F: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-pt FG: Smale.

Kingsford — Meneguzzo 13, Nora 6, Boone 4, Kopp 10, Bracket 10, Paupore 8, Carollo 3, Bilgreen 3. FT: 3-10. F: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-pt FG: Meneguzzo 2, Paupore 2.