Todd Rose | Daily Press The Rapid River Rockets hoist the MHSAA Division 4 district 100 championship trophy after defeating the Munising Mustangs Saturday night in Eben.

EBEN — It looked like dire straits for the Rapid River Rockets (9-8) midway through the second quarter here as they were down by 16 to the Munising Mustangs (15-2) Saturday night in Eben. However, a huge second half gave them the win 63-48 in the MHSAA Division 4 District 100 Championship.

“I was happy with the way they rallied back. Especially in the second half being down nine,” said Rockets head coach Richard Poma. “Obviously, you have to pick at it, and they did a great job.”

As Poma said, the Rockets began the third quarter down by nine, 31-22. About 3:30 into the quarter, Mason Kudlick nailed a 3-pointer — he had four total — to bring the Rockets within one possession of the Mustangs, 35-32.

Following that up was Max Lenaker with two free throws, Kudlick with another three to put Rapid River up 37-35 and Ben Lenaker with a free throw to make it 38-35. It was the Rockets’ first lead of the night.

Kane Nebel — who had an impressive 32 points — went 1-2 from the line to make it a two-pin game entering the final quarter.

A three-point basket from Bryce Lundquist put the Rockets up 50-48 with 2:58 left in the game. It was the fourth lead change of the quarter and would be the last.

With both teams in bonus — and eventually double bonus — free throws were crucial in the quarter. Nobody excelled better at them than Rapid’s Rease Dawley, who went 11-13 from the line in the fourth.

Five of these came after a Munising technical foul, and head coach Terry Kientz was sent to the locker room by officials after Ethan Lakosky fouled out with just under a minute remaining.

“We practice all day in practice free throws,” said Dawley. “It’s very important and can change the game. Tonight proved that.”

To Dawley, the Rockets are a team willing to wait things out to their advantage.

“I think we are very patient and not selfish at all,” he said. “We just want to win. That’s all we want to do. It feels great. (I’m) just looking forward to next week.”

Dawley totaled 15 points for the game.

At halftime, Poma didn’t make many changes to how the Rockets were playing. It was a move that paid off.

“(I told them) to just keep doing what we were doing,” he said. “I don’t think anything needs to change. We were getting shots that I know we can hit, and we just weren’t hitting them for the most part.

“(I said), ‘just stay the course. We’re not going to hit a nine-point shot.’ And they came out and did a good job.”

Poma said his team has stayed strong through all the challenges this year has thrown at them, building on early-season losses to be district champions.

“They really come into practice every single day. They don’t complain. They don’t hang their heads,” he said. “I think they really take criticism to heart, and they really apply it.”

Max Lenaker had 15 points and Mason Kudlick 19 for the Rockets.

Rockets assistant coach Hayden Hardwick said the game was a team win.

“It was just a good team effort, Hardwick said. “We executed in crunch time, which was huge … We had eight people off the bench contribute to beat a very good team. We came together and made shots when they mattered.”

Hardwick also mentioned Griffin Flath’s game as probably the best he has had all year, citing his possible double-digit rebounds.

Something both Poma and Hardwick noted was the absence of Munising’s Jesse Duran, who has been a major part of the Mustang team this year.

“Jesse Duran wasn’t able to make it here today, but we’re playing,” Mustangs head coach Terry Kientz said. “We didn’t have our full squad, but I told the kids it doesn’t matter. We’re playing the game.”

In the first half, Munising scored 31. In the second half, it was a different story with only 17.

“I was hoping we would play the second half how like we did the first half,” said Kientz. “How quickly things change. We came out shooting hot and shot them out of the zone. That was the plan. We slowed down a bit before halftime, and in the third, we kind of went cold.”

Kientz also attributed the loss to turnovers and lack of rebounds.

“We can credit Rapid River’s defense, but we just had way too many turnovers and got out rebounded,” he said. “All those small things that we needed to do right to win a game we just didn’t.”

According to Kientz, inconsistent officiating played a role in the Mustangs’ second-half rhythm.

“It was a little frustrating for the foul situation,” he said. “They’d let you play one minute; then they wouldn’t the next minute.”

Looking back on the season, Kientz said they were happy to get it in while taking it day to day.

“We’ve been counting our blessings and taking it one game at a time,” he said. “We’ve definitely been blessed to play basketball this year. We tried to have a lot of fun while we were doing it, and I think we did.

“The season sure went by in the blink of an eye this year.”

Kientz gave a tip of the hat to the Rockets, praising their composure and defensive play to make the comeback.

In addition to Nebel’s 32, Sam Brown had 13 for the Mustangs.

The Rockets will take on the Carney-Nadeau Wolves Tuesday night in an MHSAA Division 4 regional opener.

Rapid River 9 13 16 25 — 63

Munising 14 17 5 12 — 48

Rapid River — Kudlick 19, Dawley 15, Max Lenaker 15, Lundquist 7, Ben Lenaker 3, Snay 3, Flath 1; F: 16; FT: 24-30; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Kudlick 4, Max Lenaker, Snay, Lundquist.

Munising — Nebel 32, Sam Brown 13, Simon Brown 3; F: 23; FT: 8-13; Fouled out: Simon Brown, Lakosky; 3-point field goals: Nebel 5, Sam Brown 2, Simon Brown.