Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Javon Stevenson, Cody Noel, and both teams' head coaches.

ESCANABA---Technically, it's not March yet, which means the high school basketball district tournament games so far don't count as “March Madness”, or even the MHSAA's preferred “March Magic” slogan.

But it sure felt like March Wednesday night as the Escanaba Eskymos upset the Negaunee Miners, 51-48, in the Division Two District semifinals at the Escanaba High School Gym.
 

The Eskymos entered the game with a 9-12 record, and the Miners came in with a 15-7 record. And the Miners beat the Eskymos by 15 points in December.

This isn't December. It's March (almost) and the Eskymos played an outstanding defensive game and withstood a dominating fourth quarter performance by Negaunee senior Gavin Saunders to advance to the district final.

“It just feels great to get a win in playoffs,” Eskymo junior Javon Stevenson said. “We had to come out here and fight. It's the hardest games of the year out here, and it's just great to get a win. We had to stop the shooters. We couldn't let them shoot the ball, and it was great that we stopped it.”

“We played really well,” Escanaba junior Cody Noel said. “We got some great shots and got a great win.”

Escanaba had the lead for most of the evening, but the lead never got above seven points. It was 15-8 after the first quarter, 25-20 at halftime, and 36-31 after three quarters of play. Every time the Miners made a mini-run to take a lead, the Eskymos had an answer, and they mostly did it by going inside to Noel and Stevenson.
 

“We really dug in today,” Escanaba Coach Scott Hanson said. “I was so proud of how the kids went after it. The kids really wanted it tonight, and I think that was the difference. From start to finish, we played defense. And I can't say we've done that all year, but I think the guys really wanted it, and we survived and we move on.”

Negaunee Coach Brad Nelson says his team just didn't get it done.

“We did enough things wrong defensively for us to be in that position,” Nelson said. “We talked about it in November and December that if you don't do the little things in March, you're going home. And that was kind of the case tonight. I'm not questioning their effort, but just a few breakdowns, and you can't have that happen.”

Nelson says the way the Eskymos played defense threw his team for a loop.

“We normally shoot pretty well, and we didn't shoot well tonight,” Nelson said. “Credit Esky switching up their defense. I mean, they would switch up their defense halfway through a possession. That slowed us down a little bit. I thought we moved the ball better in the second half, but our free throw shooting in the first half was atrocious.”

Escanaba led, 38-31, after a sweet pass from David Romps to Stevenson for the lay-up. But the Miners had an answer, and his name is Gavin Saunders. Saunders nailed a triple and, after a stop, a mid-range jumper, to close the gap to 38-36.

Shane Wallin answered with a triple of his own to put Escanaba up, 41-36, with 6:29 left in the game. But Saunders kept scoring. Three more baskets in four possessions, from everywhere on the court, and the game was tied at 42-42.

The Eskymos kept attacking the paint and got to the free throw line, and Saunders answered at the other end. Finally, with 23 seconds left in the game, Romps attacked the basket and scored a pretty layup as he was falling out of bounds, making it 46-44.

After a time out, the Miners went for the win. Saunders let it fly from the top of the key, but the three-pointer came up short. The Eskymos got a big rebound underneath the basket, and then the final 12 seconds were all about fouls. Escanaba had three fouls to give, and they gave them, and then kept putting Saunders on the line rather than letting him get off another potential game-tying three-point basket attempt.

The Eskymos, with Romps and Wallin, made enough free throws in the final seconds, with Romps sinking the two with 4.1 seconds left to make it 51-48. Saunders was only able to get off a desperation half-court shot that came up well short, and the Eskymos celebrated their biggest win of the season.

The winning combination for the Eskymos was defense and balanced scoring. Wallin and Stevenson both scored 13 points, Noel added eleven, and Romps contributed eight points (along with outstanding ball-handling against Negaunee pressure).

For Negaunee, it was Saunders with 27 points, 17 of them in the fourth quarter, In fact, he scored every single point for the Miners in that fourth quarter.

“We had no choice,” Nelson said. “Baron (Heslip) was under the weather. Normally, Baron is a very good offensive player. Jordan (Guenette) was in foul trouble. We've got playmakers, but we just didn't make the plays tonight.”

The Eskymos tipped their hats to Saunders, and were happy to survive the onslaught.

“You know, he's always going to get his (points),” Stevenson said. “There's nothing you can do about that. But as long as other people aren't scoring and not hitting their shots, we're fine.”

“We knew they'd put him (Saunders) in the middle, at the free throw line,” Noel said. “Usually, I would stay back in our zone, but they had me come up and contest the shot. It worked pretty well, even though he had a good amount of points.”

“Saunders carried that team in the fourth quarter,” Hanson said. “Without him, that game was probably over a lot sooner than it was.”

It was perhaps the best all-around game in Stevenson's career, as he used every inch of his 6-foot-2 frame, and his athleticism, to play tough at both ends of the court.

“We were running a lot of clear-outs for him and they really struggled to stay in front,” Hanson said. “I think he could have finished a little better. He missed two or three (lay-ups), but I'm not holding that against him. He played absolutely amazing defensively and he was on Saunders a good percentage of the time. And he rebounding really well, too.”

The Eskymos will be an even bigger underdog against the Kingsford Flivvers in the championship game Friday night in Kingsford.

“We've had two really rough losses to Kingsford, and we can't let that happen again,” Hanson said. “We've got to show up ready to play. We're not going to back down. The pressure is on them. Everyone expects them to win. So, we cam play loose, but we're going to play hard, and give them our best shot.”