BALANCED ATTACK: Escanaba Stops Westwood

Click the thumbnails to see photos and video highlights, and listen to post-game interviews with Zach Carlson, Jared Hanson, and Casey Bray.

ESCANABA---Five players scored in double figures Monday night as the Escanaba Eskymos pulled away from the Westwood Patriots in a non-conference showdown, 68-50.

Westwood's Zach Carlson scored 24 points and crossed 1,000 points for his career.

After a 13-13 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Eskymos scored seven straight points, incuding a Colin Hudson slam dunk, to take a 20-13 lead. It was 32-27 at the haff, and the Eskymos outscored the Patriots, 16-9, in the third quarter to take a 14-point lead that would never be cut in the final eight minutes.

The loudest cheer of the night came in the final two minutes when Carlson drained a triple to put himself over the 1,000 point mark (1,001) for his Patriot career.

"Thanks to all of my coaches over the years, my teammates, my parents, and everyone that's motovated me," Carlson said. "It was nice to get, but I wish we would've got the W. They zoned us and really locked, and it was hard to get passes through."

Escanaba was led by Casey Bray an Jared Hanson with 14 points each, while Trevor Brown scored 12 points, Connor Smale chipped in with 11, and Hudson contributed ten points.

"I had a good night," Bray said. "The drive was working, so I took it. We knew we had to play good defense, move the ball around. Good team offense and good team defense, and it came together."

"The offense the coaches put in has really worked for us all year," Hanson said. "It's really getting us all shots. When we cut hard (to the basket), it really opens things up. It opens the three up, which you wouldn't think. It's really good for us because it gets us all equal shots, and we share the ball really well."

Westwood fell to 10-3 on the season while Escanaba improved to 8-4.

Zach Beckman scored nine points and Garrett Sundberg chipped in eight for the Patriots, in a make-up game that was postponed by snow last month,

Westwood goes back into Mid Peninsula Conference play Wednesday against cross-town rival Ishpeming, while Escanaba visits Marquette Thursday and hosts Sault Ste. Marie Saturday.