ESCANABA---The last time the Escanaba Eskymos and Gladstone Braves played in boys basketball, the Eskymos won but leading scorer Brandon Robinette was frustrated.
The 6-foot-5 senior scored just one basket, along with eight free throws, for a total of ten points. He was effectively muted by Gladstone junior Tyler Wells.
Well, when the two teams played again Wednesday night, this time in the Class B district semifinals, Robinette had this simple message: "It doesn't happen twice". And it sure didn't.
Robinette scored eight of his team's first ten points Wednesday and ended up with 26 points as the Eskymos eliminated the Braves, 60-48.
When Robinette nailed a three with a man in his face early in the game, it was obvious that it would be his night to shine.
"I knew it was gonna be a good game after that," the soft-spoken Robinette said. "Whatever comes to me, I guess. It depends on who my defender is, who's guarding me, there's a lot of different things I can do on the court, so I like to switch it up every game."
Robinette admitted that he took the last game's performance personally. So, what was different this time around, against the Braves' top defender?
"I just played my normal game," Robinette said. "Sometimes it falls, sometimes it doesn't. It didn't the second game against them, but this time, it did."
"That's all we told him," Eskymo Coach Tracy Hudson said. "About how good their defense was. How Wells had shut him down. Wells is a great defensive player, but he's giving up a lot of height. We were gonna make a concerted effort to get him (Robinette) the ball down there and see if they could control him."
Clearly, the Braves couldn't control Robinette this time. He had the eight early points, and then in the third quarter, Robinette scored nine more as the Eskymos pulled away.
"I thought he had a great all-around game," Hudson said. "You could just see the look in his eye that he was ready to go. I really didn't doubt him. I knew he was gonna be ready. He had a couple of uncharacteristic games. He came out really focused."
Gladstone Coach Dale Hongisto was impressed with what he saw from the Eskymos.
"I was talking with my coaches for the last five days, and we we all talked about big players need to make big plays at opportune times," Hongisto said. "Holy Smokes did they hit some shots. I'm not even upset with our defense, to be honest with you."
But this was far from being the Brandon Robinette Show. Other Eskymo players stepped up as well. With the score tied 10-10 late in the first quarter, Ben Kleiman nailed a shot just before the buzzer to put the Eskymos in front.
Then Kleiman scored the first five pounts of the second quarter to give his team a 17-10 lead. And in the third quarter, with the Braves still hanging around down 32-28, Sam Molnar nailed a pair of three-point baskets, one of them from NBA territory.
That gave Escanaba a 38-30 lead entering the fourth quarter, and then Molnar sank another three early in the fourth quarter to expand Escanaba's lead to 43-33 with six minutes left.
"They did a good job of controlling the paint and we had to make some shots," Hudson said. "We didn't have a lot of fouls in the first half, so we came out with a lot of pressure (in the third quarter) and went a little more up-tempo."
"Sammy made those big shots."
"I don't know how many shots they hit in a row in the second half, but it was a God-awful amount," Hongisto said. "Some of them were 24-footers."
"I remember Molnar hitting one from like the volleyball line. Give them credit."
Besides Robinette's 26 points, Molnar added 13 and Kleiman chipped in with ten.
"I'm real proud of our team. Beating Gladstone three times in a year, I mean, they've got a nice team," Hudson said. "Dale does a nice job with them. They battled us."
For Gladstone, Jared Hunter led the way with 19 points, including a pair of three's. Wells scored 14 points, and he had three three-point baskets.
"It stings to lose," Hongisto said. "But, you know what? We battled. We worked hard. We stayed the course. We played Gladstone Basketball. We came up short. I thought defensively, we were pretty darn good. But they hit some big shots."
Gladstone finished its season with an 8-12 record.
Escanaba (16-5) will travel to Menominee for the Class B District Championship Game Friday night. The Maroons beat Kingsford, 50-42, in Wednesday's other semifinal.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos (taken by Lori Jurek) and videos (taken by Mike Dagenais and Nate Bellville). You can also hear radio highlights and interviews there.
The 6-foot-5 senior scored just one basket, along with eight free throws, for a total of ten points. He was effectively muted by Gladstone junior Tyler Wells.
Robinette scored eight of his team's first ten points Wednesday and ended up with 26 points as the Eskymos eliminated the Braves, 60-48.
When Robinette nailed a three with a man in his face early in the game, it was obvious that it would be his night to shine.
"I knew it was gonna be a good game after that," the soft-spoken Robinette said. "Whatever comes to me, I guess. It depends on who my defender is, who's guarding me, there's a lot of different things I can do on the court, so I like to switch it up every game."
Brandon Robinette gets three of his 26 Eskymo points
"I just played my normal game," Robinette said. "Sometimes it falls, sometimes it doesn't. It didn't the second game against them, but this time, it did."
"That's all we told him," Eskymo Coach Tracy Hudson said. "About how good their defense was. How Wells had shut him down. Wells is a great defensive player, but he's giving up a lot of height. We were gonna make a concerted effort to get him (Robinette) the ball down there and see if they could control him."
Escanaba's Brandon Robinette post-game comments
"I thought he had a great all-around game," Hudson said. "You could just see the look in his eye that he was ready to go. I really didn't doubt him. I knew he was gonna be ready. He had a couple of uncharacteristic games. He came out really focused."
Gladstone Coach Dale Hongisto was impressed with what he saw from the Eskymos.
But this was far from being the Brandon Robinette Show. Other Eskymo players stepped up as well. With the score tied 10-10 late in the first quarter, Ben Kleiman nailed a shot just before the buzzer to put the Eskymos in front.
Then Kleiman scored the first five pounts of the second quarter to give his team a 17-10 lead. And in the third quarter, with the Braves still hanging around down 32-28, Sam Molnar nailed a pair of three-point baskets, one of them from NBA territory.
That gave Escanaba a 38-30 lead entering the fourth quarter, and then Molnar sank another three early in the fourth quarter to expand Escanaba's lead to 43-33 with six minutes left.
"Sammy made those big shots."
"I don't know how many shots they hit in a row in the second half, but it was a God-awful amount," Hongisto said. "Some of them were 24-footers."
"I remember Molnar hitting one from like the volleyball line. Give them credit."
Besides Robinette's 26 points, Molnar added 13 and Kleiman chipped in with ten.
"I'm real proud of our team. Beating Gladstone three times in a year, I mean, they've got a nice team," Hudson said. "Dale does a nice job with them. They battled us."
Jared Hunter gets three of his 19 points for Braves
"It stings to lose," Hongisto said. "But, you know what? We battled. We worked hard. We stayed the course. We played Gladstone Basketball. We came up short. I thought defensively, we were pretty darn good. But they hit some big shots."
Tyler Wells tips one in his own basket; nails a three at other end
Escanaba (16-5) will travel to Menominee for the Class B District Championship Game Friday night. The Maroons beat Kingsford, 50-42, in Wednesday's other semifinal.
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos (taken by Lori Jurek) and videos (taken by Mike Dagenais and Nate Bellville). You can also hear radio highlights and interviews there.
