Braves' Valiant Effort Comes Up Short In Grayling

GRAYLING---"There is no way that this team has a losing record."

That's what many Grayling Vikings fans and coaches were saying about the Gladstone Braves Monday night after the Vikings and Braves played a 32-minute-long war of attrition in the Class B regional semifinal.

Grayling won the game at the end, 73-68, but the Braves earned a lot of respect that's not usually reserved for teams that have 10-11 records.

Grayling Coach Rich Moffit said that he was impressed with how hard the Braves played. And Gladstone Coach Phil Griebel was also quite happy with the effort, despite the loss.

"It was an outstanding effort," he said. "It was a a great game. The kids came and battled. I was wondering how we would play with us traveling and them being on their home court, but it was obvious that we came to play tonight."

This game had an intense, up-tempo pace all night long. Very rarely were there any half-court sets.

The Vikings played defense at a dizzying pace, using both the full-court press and the half-court press for virtually the entire night. That caused the Braves to make numerous turnovers, either by forced passes or Grayling steals on inbound plays.

Griebel says that Grayling's tenacious defense was evident on film, but...

Braves break press with Hunter basket.

"I knew it was coming, but you can't simulate the speed of the game in practice," Griebel said. "I was worried about weathering that storm, and we did do some good things against it, too.

"We got some easily layups. But, they're good at it."

The Vikings have a kid by the name of Scott Parkinson. He is 6-foot-4, wears #2, and has lime-colored sneakers. Parkinson also can shoot the ball from anywhere on the court, literally. And the Braves found that out as the first quarter moved on Monday night.

Grayling scored the first four points of the game, but the Braves got the next ten, as they did some nice passing to temporarily beat the Viking press.

Gladstone could not build on the 10-4 lead as Parkinson scored ten points in the first quarter, including two three-point baskets. The game was tied at 18-18 after the first eight minutes.

In the second quarter, the Vikings had six different players score, and Grayling took a 36-28 lead into the locker room. But these Braves, despite the "losing" record, did not give up.

Just like last week, when they trailed Menominee by eight at the half during the district championship game, the Braves rallied in the third quarter.

Cretens was on fire during those eight minutes. The senior guard, who had been cold from behind the arch recently, made three bombs in the third quarter. The last of them gave Gladstone a 41-40 lead...the Braves' first lead since the first quarter.

Grayling's Scott Parkinson gets 3 of his 26 points.

The Vikings (18-5) responded with an 8-2 spurt to take a 48-43 lead, but Blake Ballard scored a basket and a foul, and then Ballard found Dave Dykowski for a baseline hoop to tie the game at 48-48.

And it was an absolute war from there. Punch, counter-punch.

"We were not afraid of anybody right now," Griebel said. "That's kind of a scary thing (for opponents). When a team is not afraid of anybody, it's fun to watch."

Early in the fourth quarter, Gladstone grabbed momentum when Cretens nailed a three with 5:17 left, and Max Mahoney made a pair of bank shots on the baseline.

The Gladstone Braves, who endured a seven-game losing streak during this "losing" season, suddenly had a 62-58 lead with four minutes left in the game. But Grayling's "big gun" quickly turned the momentum back toward the Dark Green and Black-colored Vikings.

Parkinson drained a three to cut it to 62-61, and then the Vikings pressured the inbounds pass and got a steal.

Wes Dean scored, and Grayling was ahead at 63-62.

Gladstone Senior Jared Vuksan came back with a basket of his own to give the Braves the 64-63 lead, but he missed the free throw as part of that play. But once again, the Vikings used their pressure defense to turn things around.

Blake Ballard gets two and the foul late in the game.

Five straight points gave Grayling a 68-64 lead with 2:22 left in the game. Ballard scored with 1:48 left to close to within 68-66, but Jake Swander responded with a basket to regain the Grayling four-point lead.

Hunter scored again for the Braves to close the score to 70-68, and then Gladstone's defense made a big stop. So, the Gladstone Braves, an under-.500 team, had the ball, down by two points, with 39 seconds left in the game. A chance to tie, or take the lead.

But, alas, the Braves could not get the bounce off the rim during their final three possessions.

Grayling made its free throws, and escaped the Gladstone upset bid.

"We deserved to win," Griebel said. "But unfortunately, someone has to lose, and a couple of balls didn't bounce our way. I'm so proud of the kids' effort. It was a lot of fun the past couple of weeks."

Parkinson led Graylling with 26 points, while Swander had ten (eight of them at clutch time in the fourth quarter). Justice Juntilla had 15 points for the Vikings.

Gladstone (10-12) got 20 points from Cretens, who buried six three-pointers and a pair of free throws before fouling out during the final minute of the game. Hunter scored 11 points, Vuksan had ten, and Ballard contributed nine points in his final game.

Michael Cretens Buries a Three to make it 38-34.

Also of note in this game...the play of the Gladstone bench. With the game going at such a fast pace, the starters could not do the entire 32 minutes.

Dykowski, Justin Jurek, Riley Ballard, and others, all contributed on both ends of the court. Grayling will face Cadillac in the Class B regional championship game Wednesday night. Cadillac disposed of Bay City John Glenn, 62-39, in Monday's first semifinal.

Click the thumbnails in the above ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see videos by Mike Dagenais, photos by Nate Bellville, and to hear audio replays .

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/6	7:15 PM	Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	73 - 61 (W)	1-0

12/11	7:15 PM	Marquette Redmen	51 - 58 (L)	1-1

12/14	7:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	78 - 66 (W)	2-1

12/18	7:15 PM	Mid Peninsula Wolverines	68 - 61 (W)	3-1

12/28	6:15 PM	at St. Ignace Saints	82 - 67 (W)	4-1

1/3	7:15 PM	at Mid Peninsula Wolverines	61 - 67 (L)	4-2

1/7	7:30 PM	at Westwood Patriots	66 - 56 (W)	5-2

1/11	7:15 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	34 - 64 (L)	5-3

1/15	7:15 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	60 - 55 (W)	6-3

1/18	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	63 - 70 (L)	6-4

1/23	7:30 PM	at Ishpeming Hematites	62 - 76 (L)	6-5

1/26	3:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	66 - 67 (L)	6-6

2/5	7:20 PM	at Marquette Redmen	43 - 53 (L)	6-7

2/8	8:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	57 - 62 (L)	6-8

2/12	7:15 PM	Negaunee Miners	46 - 79 (L)	6-9

2/15	7:15 PM	Menominee Maroons	55 - 65 (L)	6-10

2/18	7:30 PM	at Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	81 - 55 (W)	7-10

2/22	7:15 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	48 - 57 (L)	7-11

2/26	7:30 PM	at Manistique Emeralds	69 - 54 (W)	8-11

3/4	6:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	56 - 53 (W)	9-11

3/6	7:00 PM	Menominee Maroons	64 - 61 (W)	10-11

3/11	8:00 PM	at Grayling Vikings	68 - 73 (L)	10-12