DOWN TO THE WIRE: Braves Slip Past Eskymos

GLADSTONE---It was a game that didn't look like it would live up to the Friday Night Hype surrounding a Gladstone Braves-Escanaba Eskymos matchup on the hardwood.

For three quarters, the Braves had complete control of the game against the arch-rival Eskymos, leading 41-27, entering the final eight minutes.

But Escanaba ramped up its defense and made some key plays on the offensive end in the final quarter, briefly taking the lead, before falling, 51-50, in a thrilling game before a packed house at the Gladstone High School Gym.

Gladstone senior Tyler Wells scored the winner for the Braves on the baseline with 8.1 seconds left, off a feed from fellow Jake Peterson.

Peterson also nailed a huge three-point basket moments earlier after Escanaba had rallied to take an improbable 48-45 lead.

"Multiple guys stepped up," Gladstone Coach Dale Hongisto said. "If we had lost this game, quite honestly, I'm not sure we bounce back. That would have been tough. But thank God we did win."

"A conference win, at home, and our goal is to get back to .500," Hongisto said. "We couldn't get to .500 without this one, so we have to go and play hard Tuesday."

Tyler Wells Wins Game For Gladstone

"Our kids fought with a lot of determination," Escanaba Coach Tracy Hudson said. "I felt like Gladstone did a lot better job in the first half playing their style, isolating their quicker guys on our bigger guys."

"We just wanted to come out with a lot of energy, and we kept trying to switch things," Hudson continued. "We got a little run going, and we thought we had a chance. But Gladstone made some big plays down the stretch. All we needed was one big defensive stop and we couldn't get it."

Gladstone controlled the early part of the game, leading 26-13 late in the second quarter before Tyler Skufca banked in a 35-footer at the horn to give Escanaba a boost.

In the second half, the Eskymos closed to within six, but the Braves responded, taking a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter.

But things fell apart very quickly for Gladstone.

The Eskymos switched defenses, and the Braves had their big lead dwindle in a hurry. It was 45-35 when Sam Molnar and Chris Rose combined to score eight points, with three turnovers.

All of a sudden, Gladstone's lead was down to 45-43.

Gladstone senior Justin Jurek, normally a smooth passer, had his long one picked off by Logan Lamb. Rose scored on the baseline to give Escanaba a 46-45 lead with 2:12 left in the game. Gladstone missed several layups during the fourth quarter, and the free throw shooting was not good. The Braves missed ten of twelve foul shots in the quarter.

Wells hoop; Skufca 35-footer

"It really came down to that," Hongisto said. "We did not convert on the line. Even though we had a few turnovers when they came at us there, if we would have made a few free throws, we would have had a little more breathing room there."

After Andy Olesak missed two free throws, Molnar went the other way with a driving layup that gave Escanaba a 48-45 lead with 1:35 left. But that's when Peterson stepped up with a huge "three" to make it a 48-48 game with 1:12 left on the clock.

Garling hit one of two free throws on the next possession to make it 49-48, but the Eskymos regained the lead when Taylor scored off a Molnar feed to give Escanaba a 50-49 lead with 36 seconds left.

Hongisto called a time out to set up a final play.

Peterson, who had made the "three" moments earlier, passed up the last shot, instead, finding Wells on the back-door cut.

Wells scored it, and Escanaba's long pass up-court to Taylor was high and went off his hands, ending a thrilling contest. The Gladstone High School student section stormed the court as if it was a championship game.

"We just won a hard-fought game against Escanaba," Hongisto said. "We're looking to turn our season around. Good for these guys. Thank God we had a time out left at the end there. We had a good set run there. The goal was to get to the rack, because, quite honestly, fouls were being called there. Double-bonus for four minutes there."

Tyler Wells wins game for Gladstone.

But the game-ender did not come on "the rack", at first, as Wells explains.

"The ball came to me, and my coach told me to 'rack it'," Wells said. "But I kicked it out to Jake for the three. But when he didn't shoot it, I was like, 'oh crap', and then I realized that I was wide open because they 'helped' way too much (on defense)."

Hudson says that Wells was so wide open on that last shot because Peterson had drained the "three" moments earlier that tied the game.

Jake Peterson triple ties game at 48-48.

"We cheated on him for penetration," Hudson said. "They threw the 'skip' and hit him in the corner, and that was a big shot (the previous three). Our game plan was not to give him any three-pointers. We know that he's kind of gimpy woth his ankle making drives, but we had a break-down there. We helped a little too much, and he hit that three."

And so, on the final play, when Peterson faked another three...

"He found Wells," Hudson said. "They have him (Peterson) in the line-up for a reason. He's a winner. He's not afraid of taking the big shot, or making the big pass."

Hongisto looked at the final play this way.

"The key was, how Jake was, they had to go honor Jake because they know that he can flat-out shoot it," Hongisto said. "It opens up things inside. And Tyler Wells. Good for him for making a great cut and finishing."

Wells felt that he needed to redeem himself after three missed lay-ups and four missed free throws, all in the fourth quarter.

"We definitely wouldn't have been in that position if I could have made a lay-up, or if I could have made a free throw," Wells said. "I had to make it up, so that's what I did."

Wells led the Braves with 16 points, while seven other guys scored. Olesak added ten points, and Peterson chipped in with eight points, including two three-pointers.

Esky's Sam Taylor makes it 50-49 late.

Escanaba fell to 9-10 on the season, with a game against Calumet still left on the schedule. Molnar had 18 points and Rose added 16 in the losing effort.

"I was super proud of my kids, the way they battled back," Hudson said. "We had some foul trouble. We lost Tyler Hardwick (fouled out), we lost Jake Rodman (concussion in a third quarter collission). We took the lead late, and we just couldn't hold on."

For the Braves, Garling was strong on the boards and scored six points.

"Quite honestly, he was a little ticked off tonight that he didn't start," Hongisto said. "He's capable of doing what he did tonight. As a coach, that's the fun part, of trying to draw things out of kids. I've been hard on 'Gar. I love the kid to death. And he responded."

Garling dominated on the glass despite being saddled with four fouls.

"I knew going in that I had four, and Coach said that if anything came down, I should just put my hands up, get in the way, and not get that last foul," Garling said. "We were turning the ball over and trying to go way too fast. It was a lot of work. They were pretty aggressive."

Gladstone improved to 8-10, and broke a five-game losing streak. The Braves finish the regular season with games in Manistique next Tuesday, and a make-up game at home next Thursday against Sault Ste. Marie.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see game photos taken by Lori Jurek, game videos taken by Nate Bellville, and listen to radio replays and post-game interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/19	7:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	54 - 40 (W)	1-0

12/22	7:15 PM	Mid Peninsula Wolverines	62 - 47 (W)	2-0

1/3	3:00 PM	at St. Ignace Saints	64 - 62 (W)	3-0

1/8	7:30 PM	at Mid Peninsula Wolverines	45 - 41 (W)	4-0

1/10	3:00 PM	Marquette Redmen	27 - 48 (L)	4-1

1/12	7:46 PM	at Ishpeming Hematites	51 - 61 (L)	4-2

1/13	7:45 PM	at Rapid River Rockets	56 - 29 (W)	5-2

1/15	7:15 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	45 - 57 (L)	5-3

1/20	7:15 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	53 - 58 (L)	5-4

1/23	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	48 - 30 (W)	6-4

1/27	7:15 PM	Ishpeming Hematites	46 - 63 (L)	6-5

2/2	7:15 PM	Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	60 - 50 (W)	7-5

2/10	7:20 PM	at Marquette Redmen	24 - 46 (L)	7-6

2/12	8:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	48 - 58 (L)	7-7

2/17	7:15 PM	Negaunee Miners	45 - 55 (L)	7-8

2/20	7:15 PM	Menominee Maroons	43 - 49 (L)	7-9

2/23	7:30 PM	at Westwood Patriots	54 - 60 (L)	7-10

2/27	7:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	51 - 50 (W)	8-10

3/3	7:30 PM	at Manistique Emeralds	44 - 54 (L)	8-11

3/5	7:15 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	30 - 44 (L)	8-12

3/11	7:00 PM	Menominee Maroons	52 - 50 (W)	9-12

3/13	7:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	30 - 32 (L)	9-13