Braves Rally To Take District Championship, 57-43

GLADSTONE---The third time was the charm for the Gladstone High School basketball team in their battle with the Menominee Maroons Friday night, but for a while there, it looked like "three" would be a very lucky number for the Maroons.

The Braves trailed the Maroons by nine points early in the third quarter, but rallied for a 57-43 victory in the Class B District Championship Game on their home court.

The Braves had dropped both regular season games to the Maroons, but the boys played a great second half to make sure that good things didn't come in "threes" for longtime Menominee Coach Pete Pericolosi and his team full of seniors.

Gladstone senior Joe Gibbs electricfied the jam-packed gym with a slam dunk late in the first quarter to give the Braves a 14-12 lead.

But Maroons senior Hunter Hass nailed three triples, fellow senior Marcus McKenney sank a three, and sophomore Kyle Anderson hit a three of his own, and Menominee led at halftime, 29-22.

Levi Kempka scored the first basket of the third quarter to put Menominee up, 31-22. But that's when the Braves got their offense going, and the Maroon shooting went cold.

Gladstone scored eleven straight points to take the lead, with Gibbs nailing a triple and Reece Castor knocking down a three-pointer of his own to make it 33-31.

McKenney scored to tie the game at 33-all, but Gladstone sophomore Rudy Peterson scored four straight points with a pair of foul shots and a lay-up to make it 37-33.

In the fourth quarter, Gladstone continued to work the ball inside, with Gibbs getting his second slam dunk of the contest.

And on the outside, Peterson was fouled while shooting a three-pointer and he calmly stepped to the line and sank all three free throws.

Spindler led the Braves with 20 points, while Castor and Gibbs each added 14 pointd.

Menominee (9-13) got 13 points from Hass and ten points from Tanner Mathias.

Gladstone (17-5) advances to the Class B regional tournament, with a semifinal match-up on Monday in Sault Ste. Marie against Grayling. The Vikings are also 17-5 after they won their district title against Kingsley, 63-47, Friday night in the Sault.

Monday's game is set for 6:00 and it will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), WMXG-FM (106.3), and on the Internet at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Brenda Crow and videos taken by Mike Dagenais.