HANNAHVILLE — A double-digit cushion came in handy for the Hannahville boys here Thursday night as they hung on for a 64-55 triumph over the Big Bay de Noc Black Bears.

The Big Bay girls dominated from start to finish as they coasted past the Soaring Eagles 60-15.

In the boys’ contest, Hannahville led 51-29 after sophomore Keenan Smith split a pair of free throws with 72 seconds left in the third quarter of this Northern Lights League Conference contest.

Big Bay, however, began to heat up from outside the perimeter as it hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc, including a 23-foot jumper from the left wing by sophomore Tanner Peterson which pulled them within 51-35 as the third stanza drew to a close.

The Black Bears continued to whittle away at their deficit in the fourth stanza as Peterson drained a 20-foot jumper from the left wing to pull within 53-45 with 5:45 remaining.

Big Bay got within 55-48 on a putback by freshman guard Finley Morris midway through the fourth.

The Black Bears pulled within seven points three more times until the final 12 seconds when sophomore forward Dawson Lea put the game out of reach with a pair of gifters.

“Those were two big free throws by Dawson,” Hannahville coach Jon Bintner said. “We had a decent lead, then their pressure bothered us a little. That’s some of the growing pains. We make it interesting and we don’t need to. Sometimes I think we’re going too fast. We told the kids when they’re trying to ice the game, to go to the basket.”

The Soaring Eagles gained a 23-9 cushion on a putback by Lea to open the second frame.

Freshman Finley Morris split a pair of free throws to bring Big Bay within 31-23 with 58 seconds left in the second stanza.

A putback by freshman forward Parker Trudeau, however, put Hannahville back up by 12 points (35-23) going into the halftime locker room.

Junior guard Parker Pederson hit a layup to bring the Black Bears within 38-29 slightly more than 1½ minutes into the third.

The Soaring Eagles responded with 13 unanswered points for their largest lead in the contest.

Lea finished with a career-high 20 points. Senior guard Sam Beaver added 16 and Trudeau scored 11 for Hannahville, which committed 17 turnovers.

Pederson was Big Bay’s leader with 22 points. Peterson tallied 11. The Black Bears had 10 miscues.

“I thought we did a pretty good job on Parker,” Bintner said. “This is probably the first time we had a size advantage on Big Bay. We felt going man-to-man was our best bet. Then they hit some shots and forced us out of it. Momentum started shifting a little. We came out better tonight. This was definitely different from last night (in Wednesday’s 69-63 loss to Carney-Nadeau).”

The league-leading Big Bay girls led 22-0 after the first quarter and 36-2 at halftime. The Black Bears are 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the NLL.

Senior Caragan Thill scored 19 points, running her career total to 1,025. Sophomore Destiny Bleau added 18 and junior Payton Pederson had 12.

Senior Laniceya Malinowski hit eight points for Hannahville (5-7 overall, 3-1 NLL), which is idle until Jan. 23-24 when it travels to Kinross Maplewood Baptist.

“We’re definitely better than we were at the beginning of the season,” Hannahville coach Seth Miller said. “Although, we still have a lot of room for improvement. We’re still not at full strength yet, but we’re improving on our physical skills. Reaching some of our private team goals is our focus.”

The Big Bay boys (3-7 overall, 3-6 league) return to the hardwood Tuesday when they visit Munising Baptist. The girls resume Jan. 23-24 when they host Beaver Island.

Hannahville’s girls resume Jan. 22 at Rapid River. Both Hannahville teams travel to Kinross Maplewood Baptist Jan. 23-24.

GIRLS

Big Bay de Noc 22 14 9 15 — 60

Hannahville 0 2 3 10 — 15

Big Bay de Noc — Bleau 18, Pederson 12, Frankovich 2, Kuehl 4, Durrance 2, Thill 19, DesJarden 3. FT: 4-6; F: 5; Fouled out: None.

Hannahville — Malinowski 8, Langston 3, Shawano-Frye 4. FT: 0-2; Fouled out: None.

BOYS

Big Bay de Noc 7 16 12 20 — 55

Hannahville 21 14 16 13 — 64

Big Bay de Noc — Gembel 5, Max Pomeroy 6, Rochefort 5, Cooper 5, Pederson 22, Peterson 11, Morris 4. FT: 5-10; F: 15; Fouled out: Rochefort.

Hannahville — Arteaga 2, M.J. Smith 7, Beaver 16, K. Smith 7, Lea 20, Trudeau 11. FT: 7-9; F: 12; Fouled out: None.