Eskymos Honor Seniors, Coast To Win Over Gwinn

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Escanaba seniors Lukas Weaver and Kaiden Brown, and from Gwinn Coach Kyle Aho.

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School boys basketball team built a 25-point lead and coasted to a 63-49 win over the Gwinn Model Towners Tuesday night.

The Eskymos recognized their five seniors, plus student manager Zach Hogue, who also suited up and had the biggest highlight of the night with a buzzer-beater at the end of the game.

"These guys have been through a lot together," Eskymo Coach Scott Hanson said over the loud speaker during the pre-game ceremony. "They went through having to wear masks all the time, and social distancing (during the COVID pandemic). They stayed together."

The five seniors: Casey Bray, Cole Reese, Kaiden Brown, Trent Lawson, and Lukas Weaver started the game, and they played most of the minutes. The Eskymos grabbed a 21-7 lead after one quarter, and they led, 38-13, at halftime, with the seniors on the floor most of the time.

"It's a memorable moment," said Brown, who hit two triples and scored eight points. "I mean, it's kind of sad, you know. All the memories we've had through the years. It all comes down to this. I think it was a good game for us to celebrate together. We have some more games coming up, but it was a good experience."

Ditto for Weaver, who has leaned on his senior buddies for support since his parents died in a traffic crash three weeks ago.

"It was a great night, and we got a good win," Weaver said. "We have good chemistry, and we got the job done, like we always do. It's amazing. I've been playing with them for years and years, I couldn't even tell you how many. We just worked together and did what we needed to do to get the win. A lot of guys got good buckets, too."

But the highlight was the final play of the game, when the boys found Houge, who lived in Neweberry for three years before moving to Escanaba, wore the #52 jersey as a player, rather than a student manager passing out water bottles.

And on that last play, after Houge went down to the floor for a loose ball, and after Jackson Cousineau missed a jump shot, Reese got the rebound. Instead of putting it up on that last play, Reese did a two-handed shovel pass to Hogue on the baseline. Houge scored the lay-up just before the final buzzer, sending the Eskymo crowd into a loud cheer.

"That was amazing," Weaver said. "I was so excited. I didn't think it was going to happen. But then he caught it, and put it in. That was so awesome."

"I'm so happy for Zach," Brown said. "Me and him were shooting the other day in practice. I'm proud of the kid. I mean, he's our manager and all, but he's been working on his shooting."

Escanaba had the easy 38-13 lead at the half, but Hanson also wanted to give his second and third stringers a chance to play against the winless Model Towners.

Gwinn Coach Kyle Aho also went to the bench, and his team battled back, outscoring Escanaba, 24-14, in the third quarter.

And sophomore Alex Niemi knocked down four triples, snd scored a game-high 14 points. Had he nailed a step-back triple with 1:08 left, Gwinn would have been back to within seven points, but the shot clanked off the rim.

"He's done a great job," Aho said. "Alex has actually come a long ways. He's matured a lot as a young kid. I would say the ceiling is very high for him, because he's just got the basketball knack."

Aho was happy to see his team not give up, despite being 0-18 on the season and trailing by 25 points at halftime.

"I think one of the biggest things is our guys didn't turn it over down the stretch," Aho said. "I mean, we've got a lot of young kids, and they're playing in spots that they didn't expect to be playing in at the beginning of the season. I'm proud of the effort."

While Gwinn fell to 0-19 on the season, Escanaba improved to 11-6, with two big games at home this weekend. Escanaba hosts Gladstone Friday night, and Sault Ste. Marie Saturday afternoon. The game with Gladstone will be broadcast live on FM-93.5 and AM-600.