Everyone Chips In As Braves Turn Back Wolverines

PERKINS---Ten players scored points as the Gladstone Braves got their first basketball win of the season Monday, beating the Mid Peninsula Wolverines, 71-44, in Perkins.

Jared Hunter and Tyler Wells led the way with 13 points each, and tough defense that made it tough for Mid Pen to score. Evan Winkelbauer had 16 points for the Wolverines.

Gladstone's Jake Peterson (34) defends Mid Pen's Trey Branstrom (4) Monday night.

"It's great to get a win," Gladstone Coach Dale Hongisto said. "I just got done telling my guys that I'm their biggest fan right now.

"It was nice to watch us get out and run a little bit. We missed some easy shots, otherwise, we could have really scored well tonight."

"We finally got a win, and it feels really good," Wells said. "We really needed to get back on track, get a win, and get some momentum going.

"We have been putting up a lot of shots but have not been finishing. Even this game. We had a lot of missed opportunities," Wells said. "We beat them 71-44, but it could have been 90-44."

Gladstone led, 23-9 after one quarter, and 38-21 at the half. The Wolverines never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

Hongisto substituted freely, using all twelve of his players.

Gladstone's Andy Olesak scores off the Jared Hunter feed

"I've got quite a lengthy rotation of guys who can go in there and do some good stuff," Hongisto said. "Them guys (bench players) played at crucial times, too, it wasn't just at garbage time. We just wanted to keep being aggressive."

Hongisto says that his Braves did not take the Wolverines lightlty coming in.

"Mark (Coach Branstrom) always has them playing hard," Hongisto said. "Our goal coming in was to just to have a nice, clean, solid performance. We were 11 for 18 at the line, so we've got to clean that up a bit. And we missed some easy shots.

Mid Pen's Evan Winkelbauer buries the three

"But it was good. There I go nit-picking again!"

Christian Groleau scored 11 points and Jake Peterson had nine for the Braves.

Alden Pellinen scored ten points and Chad Branstrom had nine for Mid Pen.

Gladstone will host Ishpeming in a make-up game next Monday, Dec. 30. The junior varsity game starts at 4:00, with the varisty game at 5:30.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos taken by Ron Jurek, videos taken by Nate Bellville, and audio highlights and interviews from the game.

Mid Pen's Evan Winkelbauer (3) shoots a three-pointer during Monday night's game. (Ron Jurek photo)

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/9	8:00 PM	Forest Park Trojans	45 - 54 (L)	0-1

12/12	7:30 PM	Bark River-Harris Broncos	48 - 56 (L)	0-2

12/19	7:00 PM	Republic-Michigamme Hawks	63 - 48 (W)	1-2

12/23	7:30 PM	Gladstone Braves	44 - 71 (L)	1-3

12/28	7:30 PM	at Rapid River Rockets	47 - 56 (L)	1-4

1/2	7:30 PM	at Gladstone Braves	48 - 56 (L)	1-5

1/9	8:00 PM	at Carney-Nadeau Wolves	43 - 81 (L)

1/13	7:30 PM	at Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	61 - 75 (L)

1/16	7:30 PM	Superior Central Cougars	62 - 52 (W)

1/21	7:30 PM	North Central Jets	56 - 89 (L)

1/24	7:30 PM	North Dickinson Nordics	46 - 49 (L)

1/29	8:00 PM	at Forest Park Trojans	39 - 56 (L)

1/31	7:30 PM	Carney-Nadeau Wolves	40 - 79 (L)

2/4	7:30 PM	at Bark River-Harris Broncos	63 - 77 (L)

2/7	7:30 PM	at Munising Mustangs	50 - 69 (L)

2/11	7:30 PM	Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	45 - 59 (L)

2/14	7:30 PM	Rapid River Rockets	73 - 44 (W)

2/18	8:00 PM	at North Dickinson Nordics	44 - 64 (L)

2/21	7:00 PM	at Republic-Michigamme Hawks	63 - 55 (W)

2/27	8:00 PM	at North Central Jets	58 - 91 (L)

3/3	7:00 PM	North Central Jets	48 - 69 (L)