Red-Hot Redmen Shoot Past Braves In Showdown

GLADSTONE---The Marquette Redmen put the Gladstone Braves in a big hole early in the game on Saturday, and the Braves could never dig out of that hole.

Marquette scored the game's first eleven points and went on to post a 48-27 win over Gladstone in an early-season showdown of the U.P.'s top two-rated teams.

"To their credit, they made their shots early and we didn't," Gladstone Coach Dale Hongisto said. "There's not much else I can say about that part."

Indeed. Brett Beauchamp and Connor Brazeau came out on fire. Beauchamp drained two three-pointers and Brazeau hit one of his own.

And 6-foot-10 center Vejas Grazulis scored from under the basket and very quickly, Marquette had an 11-0 lead.

Hunter Garling's short jumper put the Braves on the board with 3:57 left in the quarter. But the Redmen led, 19-7, after the first quarter, and still led by a dozen at the half.

In the third quarter, Gladstone got a three-pointer from Tyler Wells, and then Wells got a steal, feeding a streakig Justin Jurek for a basket that cut the gap to 28-21.

But the Braves would score only two more baskets and a free throw the rest of the way, as Redmen outscored Gladstone 14-3 in the final quarter. Grazulis, who will play next year at Northern Michigan University, did most of the damage with four baskets.

Gladstone's Andy Olesak three-pointer

"In the first half, we did a great job on Grazulis," Hongisto said. "They relied on the perimter. Brad (Nelson) is a good coach. I knew at halftime that they'd be talking about not living and dying on the three-point line. They came out and tried to pound it inside."

"Our help-side defense did a good job for most of the night," he continued. "But when they needed a big bucket...because we were 'fronting' in the post on everything...our front-side guy kind of fell asleep a few times and it cost us."

Hongisto says his team didn't give up, but didn't have enough for a full comeback.

"Sometimes, when you expend a lot of energy to get there, you kind of run out," Hongisto said. "And they made some big plays when they needed to. That's just the way it goes."

Beauchamp ended up making six three-point baskets for 18 points. Brazeau scored twelve points with a pair of three's. Grazulis got 14 points, and a double-double. Gladstone's leading scorers were Jurek and Garling with six points apiece.

In the junior varsity game, Gladstone had a 22-point lead in the second half, but missed numerous free throws in the fourth quarter and lost to Marquette, 61-54, in overtime. Owen Carlson had 25 points for the JV Braves.

The Braves (4-1) don't have time to dwell on Saturday's loss. That's because the boys will be on the road in Ishpeming on Monday for another make-up game. Game time is 7:30. The game will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and on rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see videos taken by Nate Bellville, and photos taken by Lori Jurek.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/22	7:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	40 - 35 (W)

1/10	3:00 PM	at Gladstone Braves	48 - 27 (W)

2/10	7:20 PM	Gladstone Braves	46 - 24 (W)

2/13	7:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	51 - 47 (W)