Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Jared Hanson (30) shoots over Negaunee’s Jace Turri (32) Monday in Escanaba during an MHSAA Division 2 District 33 opener.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba boys basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better starting two minutes here against Negaunee during an MHSAA Division 2 District 33 opener Monday.

An 11-0 lead in the first two minutes propelled the Eskymos to a 57-31 win over the Miners to move on to the district final against Kingsford today.

“We came out of the gate hard. I thought our defensive intensity (was great),” Esky coach Tracy Hudson said. “That’s what we’ve been challenging the kids (to do), just to come out with some defensive intensity. We didn’t want to fall into a 30 or 40 point game with Negaunee. We didn’t want them to fall into rhythm. We wanted to be uptempo. We wanted to not let them get rhythm, and I think we accomplished that.

“We got off to a good start. We shot well.

“The message was, ‘hey, don’t let up. We want the same intensity as a championship game.'”

Within 15 seconds, Esky’s Colin Hudson dropped one in to kick off the game’s scoring.

35 seconds later, the Eskymos Casey Bray scored after an offensive rebound, and 19 seconds later laid another in after a fast break.

Hudson put one back 20 seconds later, and Jared Hanson drained a triple with 6:09 remaining in the first for an 11-0 lead.

“I thought we were very tentative at the beginning of the game, and I was imploring them to be more aggressive and to go after those guys,” Miners coach Dan Waterman said. “It’s hard. They jumped us, and it was kind of a snowball that turned into an avalanche. That’s a credit to Escanaba and who they are. We didn’t execute and that’s on me. I think they’re going to be a tough out in the tournament, and tonight just wasn’t our night.”

Negaunee couldn’t seem to regain its disrupted rhythm for the rest of the game.

“I think that was the key,” coach Hudson said. “Everyone talks about how offense sells tickets and defense wins championships. That’s what we stressed, to let your defense be your engine and get the offense going.

“I think there’s only one or two other games where we came out like that in tournament play. They got the message. They listened, and they executed. Negaunee is such a disciplined team, they’re so well-coached, they run so many things, and I think just the defensive pressure took them out of it.”

Despite two timeouts in that time, the Miners were unable to find their footing — including an inability to penetrate the Escanaba defense for over a minute on their side of the court — until Mason Sager went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe with 3:56 left in the first.

Almost a minute later, Gerald Johnson finger rolled Negaunee’s first basket in to make it 11-3 with 2:58 remaining.

After that basket, the Miners fell into another scoring drought until three minutes remained in the second quarter, and Gavin Jacobson scored to cut their deficit to 24-5.

The closest Negaunee came was a 17-point deficit with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter as Ty Jacobson scored a layup and a subsequent free throw to make it 37-20.

Hudson led the Eskymos with 23 points and four blocks, and Bray chipped in 10.

“I thought Connor and Casey were pretty solid tonight,” coach Hudson said. “I thought Nathan Howes was kind of our super sub off the bench, and that’s what it takes. You’ve got to have a guy who can come off the bench like that.”

The Miners were led by Ty Jacobson with nine.

“My two seniors — they didn’t have big points or anything tonight, but they fought through injuries to be valuable contributors to the program,” Waterman said. “Gerald Johnson is dealing with two bad shoulders, and Jackson Gladwell dealing with a knee that’s been bulky at best. Going to miss those guys, and I wish that we had been able to do a bit better for those guys tonight.

“We came a long way. We were very green and very inexperienced at the start of the year. Tonight was kind of a thud for an ending, but I’m very proud of the growth that our young guys showed through the season.”

The district final between Escanaba and Kingsford will be played at Escanaba at 6 p.m. today.

“The thing we wanted was to be active,” coach Hudson said. “We wanted to be active in (our defenses). Our deflections and steals were at 19, we wanted to be at 20, but we came close. I think we could’ve done a bit better with defensive boards in the first half, but I’ll take it. I’ll take a one-point win over Negaunee. We’ve got to try to follow up with this on Wednesday.

“We have a lot of respect for Kingsford, and their guards are lightning, and they’re playing really well. They’re in the GNC, and they know us pretty well.”

Negaunee 3 8 9 11 — 31

Escanaba 21 12 11 13 — 57

Negaunee — T. Jacobson 9, Bell 6, Gladwell 5, Johnson 4, G. Jacobson 4, Turri 2, Sager 1. FT: 7-11; F: 9; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Jacobson 1, Gladwell 1.

Escanaba — Hudson 23, Bray 10, Smale 9, Howes 7, Brown 4, Hanson 3, Willette 1. FT: 7-9; F: 15; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Hudson 2, Bray 1, Smale 1, Howes 1.