By Alexandria Bournonville

Marquette Mining Journal

NEGAUNEE — Jeffers came into the game as a decided favorite, since it was the No. 1 team among MHSAA Division 4 boys basketball schools in the Upper Peninsula.

The Jets left the same way after posting a 79-31 win over Stephenson in the D-4 regional championship game played Wednesday night at Negaunee’s Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium.

Jeffers now enters its first-ever state quarterfinal game on an eight-game winning streak with a 25-1 record, its only loss at Division 2 Escanaba in overtime about a month ago.

“We definitely worked hard for it, we wanted this in the beginning of the year and hopefully we can keep on going here,” Jets coach John Schutz said. “The season was just amazing.

“We started off … (winning) like 13 or 14 games in a row and we’re back on that streak now and that’s what’s impressive about these guys. They don’t wanna quit yet, they wanna keep going.”

Stephenson, meanwhile, finishes at 16-10 after having its own six-game victory streak snapped.

The Jets took over the No. 1 spot in D-4 around midseason in the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association weekly basketball poll. It’s both interesting and probably was anticipated that the team it took over that mantle from, Munising, will be its next opponent in the quarters at 7 p.m. Tuesday right back at the Negaunee venue.

The winner of that game heads south to Michigan State University in East Lansing for the early semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Then that winner advances to the state championship contest, also set for MSU, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 25.

Back on Wednesday, stars of the game were without a doubt Jeffers senior Ashton Kunishige, who scored 26 points, and junior Levi Frahm, with 22. Kunishige bombed in five 3-pointers while Frahm and teammate Lincoln Just, who finished with 13 points, each had three triples.

In all, the Jets dropped in 13 treys, which accounted for just a shade under half of their entire point total.

“We have four guys averaging double figures … one guy doesn’t score for us all the time, so that’s what’s awesome about this team,” Jeffers head coach John Schutz said. “They share the ball well, you never know who’s gonna go off any given night.”

For Stephenson, Spencer Coldren and Zach Schwartz shared team scoring honors with eight points apiece as teammate Owen Kuehnau had five. They had to do it without benefit of a single 3-pointer.

The game started with Stephenson winning the initial tipoff, but they were unable to keep possession.

Frahm was the major offensive threat to start things off for Jeffers, as he scored 15 points in just the first eight minutes, a total that their opponents needed most of the first half to achieve.

With tension high for both head coaches and each fan base, cheers were exchanged as the first period came to a close. Stephenson supporters shouted, “You can’t do that!” to which Jeffers fans replied with, “We just did it,” eliciting an even louder “We can’t hear you” from the Eagles’ side.

Regardless of their shouts, the Jets took firm control with a 24-9 edge after one quarter.

Jeffers dropped in another 19 points in the second quarter to keep a big lead at halftime. Kunishige stepped up in this period and dominated offensively, making halfcourt passes to his teammates while scoring nine points himself then.

Nearly three minutes into the second, the Jets had tripled up on the Eagles, 33-11, and still had a healthy 43-20 lead at halftime as Stephenson couldn’t solve Jeffers’ long-range shooters.

In the third, Kunishige went big again in the scoring column with 11 points, plenty of them assisted by teammate Tavin Larson as they kept a huge 67-25 lead. Larson finished the night with nine points, too.

It was a cakewalk to the final buzzer as the Jets got to lift their regional championship trophy, a first for the Painesdale school.

“That’s the first time we ever won this for the school, so it’s definitely history for us tonight,” Schutz said about Jeffers’ first-ever regional championship. “So exciting, the boys just love it. It’s an impressive night tonight for us.

“These boys have been playing together since fifth grade, this is what we’ve been waiting for since then, so it’s just a great night for these guys and I’m happy for them.”

Jeffers 79, Stephenson 31

MHSAA Division 4 regional championship

Wednesday at Negaunee

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

JEFFERS — Kinnunen 1-0-2, Frahm 9-1-22, Kunishige 9-3-26, Larson 4-0-9, Heikkinen 1-0-2, Schutz 2-0-5, Just 5-0-13. Totals 31-4-79.

STEPHENSON — Kuehnau 2-1-5, Brown 2-0-4, Coldron 3-2-8, Schwartz 4-0-8, B. Kase 2-0-4, Anderson 1-0-2. Totals 14-3-31.

Score by quarters:

Jeffers 24 19 24 12 — 79

Stephenson 9 11 5 6 — 31

FG shooting: unavailable; FT shooting: Jeffers 4 of 5 (80 percent), Stephenson 3 of 9 (33.3 percent); Rebounding: unavailable.