×

Last-second victory

Blank’s pair of FTs lift Munising past Modeltowners

Munising’s Cade Contreras, right, dribbles toward the lane as Gwinn’s Jalen Skinner, center, and Tucker Taylor defend Tuesday night at the Modeltowners’ gym. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

“At the line I was thinking ‘Please don’t miss this shot’ and when I made the first it was … easy to make the second.” — ALEC BLANK, Munising junior, on game-winning free throws

*****************************

Munising High School's Cade Contreras prepares for a lay-up as Gwinn High School's Jalen Skinner defends Tuesday night, Dec. 6, 2016, at Gwinn High School. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)GWINN — A battle of first-year head coaches came down to a pair of free throws from Munising’s Alec Blank with one second remaining on Tuesday night.

The junior hit both of them to give the visiting Mustangs a 59-57 victory in each team’s opener at the Modeltowners gym.

This back-and-forth nonconference contest featured four lead changes in the fourth quarter alone as Munising needed five straight free throws to win what was the first varsity game for each head coach — Terry Kienitz of Munising and Jim Finkbeiner of Gwinn.

Trailing 56-54 with 11.4 seconds left, the Mustangs’ Cade Contreras hit three free throws to give the Mustangs a one-point lead.

Then with the game on the line, Gwinn’s Isaac Redlon found himself on the free throw line after getting fouled on a layup attempt. He nailed the first shot to tie the game 57-57 but couldn’t hit the go-ahead shot.

As the ball fell to the court, a diving Blank was fouled, earning him a shot at the game-winning free throws with one second to go.

Blank said his team never could have drawn up this ending.

“We knew they were going to play aggressive,” Blank said. “We didn’t think they were going to foul us, but when they did we ran with it.

“At the line I was thinking, ‘Please don’t miss this shot,’ and when I made the first it was good and easy to make the second.”

Blank said the free throws were the first game-winning shots of his basketball career. He finished with 19 points as Contreras had 23.

“It was a great win for the team to start the season,” Kienitz said. “We didn’t execute the whole game, but we played hard when it mattered most and got a lot of contributions from the guys to get the win.”

After a 15-15 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Modeltowners jumped out to a 32-22 lead in the second quarter with five points coming from guard Austin Forbes.

That prompted Kienitz to call timeout with three minutes remaining in the half.

“I wanted to slow things down and let us regroup,” Kienitz said. “We wanted to push the ball up the court and get some transition, but Gwinn was getting back pretty good and it wasn’t there.”

The Mustangs responded with a jump shot for two from Contreras as Munising finished the half on a 9-2 run with help from two Gwinn turnovers that cut its deficit to 34-31 at halftime.

The visitors carried the momentum into the third quarter, with Jesse Matson scoring seven points in the period and topping it off with a driving layup as time expired in the quarter to give Munising a 42-41 advantage.

As time started to run down in the fourth quarter, the physicality began to pick up. Gwinn opened the fourth quarter with a 12-6 run to regain a 53-48 lead and forced Kienitz to call another timeout with 3:30 remaining.

Contreras and Blank earned trips to the foul line out of the timeout to pull their team within a single point.

Reed Wiedenhoefer led Gwinn with 20 points, while sophomore Tucker Taylor had 18 and Forbes 14.

After the game, Finkbeiner and his coaching staff entered a quiet locker room that only has three returners from last season. He said his players weren’t sure of what their coach’s reaction would be.

“I told the guys I couldn’t be any prouder,” Finkbeiner said. “We preach effort and attitude every day, and we had the attitude that we were going to fight and battle.

“The score didn’t go our way, and our inexperience showed and cost us the game. But people did their jobs, and if we can fight with that kind of energy, we have good things coming.”

In the end, it was the senior leadership from Kienitz’s team that made the difference.

“The last four free throws made were by my two captains,” Kienitz said. “We were running plays to get into the hands of our leaders. We knew they would make something happen, and they did with some big knockdowns.”

Ray Bressette can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 243. His email address is rbressette@miningjournal.net.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today