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Mining for honors

MARQUETTE – In a large field, eight boys basketball players from the area earned spots on the All-U.P. teams as voted by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at its annual basketball meeting held Wednesday.

Negaunee’s Jay Lori and Dre Tuominen were the only First Team members from the area, both making it on the Class ABC squad. Both were also honorable mention for the Class C all-state team and earned spots on the Mid Peninsula Conference First Team.

Lori, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, led the Miners with 16 points per game and also snatched 9.5 rebounds.

“Jay’s been an intergal part of our three straight M-PC championship teams,” Negaunee head coach Dan Waterman said. “He’s an outstanding rebounder and finisher around the basket, despite standing just 6-1.

“He deals with double teams almost any time he touches the ball around the rim and has done a great job of both scoring and kicking it out to shooters.”

Tuominen, a 5-11 junior guard, ran the point for the Miners and close to Lori with 15.5 points per game. He made 46 percent of his treys and was 73 percent from the free-throw line.

“He’s the catalyst for our offense,” Waterman said. “He’s done an outstanding job of knowing what our team needed. When we needed him to score, he scored. When we needed him to distribute to other people, he got them easy looks.

“In my opinion, he’s the best pure point guard in the U.P.”

There were four other area players from the M-PC on the ABC Second Team. Westwood’s Connor Hanlon averaged 11.5 points per game while making 47.5 percent of his 3-pointers. He was named honorable mention in the M-PC and also hit the winning shot against Ishpeming in the district championship game.

“Connor is a kid who really emerged this year,” Westwood head coach and Class ABC Coach of the Year Chad Hewitt said. “He played a big role and does a good job of handling the ball. Toward the end of the year, defenses had to find him and guard him closely.”

Negaunee’s Trent Bell was on the Second Team as well as the M-PC Second Team. Bell, a 6-6 junior forward, averaged 11.3 points per game and 8.4 rebounds.

“Trent’s versatility has been a key to our success this season,” Waterman said. “He’s a matchup nightmare who can take big guys off the dribble and post up smaller guys. He is an outstanding defender averaging nearly two steals and two blocks per game.”

Ishpeming’s Ozzy Corp was the third player on the Second Team and was also on the M-PC First Team.

Corp, a 6-5 senior forward, averaged 11.5 points per game and eight rebounds. He shot 43.8 percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the line.

“He’s a good enough athlete to be able to play inside or outside for us,” Ishpeming head coach Jeff Olson said. “On defense, we definitely put him on the best big guys from the other team and he’s a great shot blocker. Ozzy really controlled the pace for us on defense and was our leading scorer on offense.

“We had some other good players this year, so he didn’t score as much as last year. But he was definitely our best player.”

Manistique’s Darien Nichols was the other area player from the M-PC on the Second Team. He averaged 13 points per game.

In Class D, Munising’s Mike Graves was on the Second Team as well as Newberry’s John Paramski and Josh Hood.

Graves, a 6-3 senior forward, was named to the Skyline Central Conference First Team. He averaged 18.2 points per game and 7.1 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field, 42 percent from beyond the arc and 73 percent from the line.

“Mike was very coachable with a lot on his shoulders to score for us,” Mustangs head coach Al Graves said. “He’s a kid we had to rely on every game. Not only did he fulfill that role, but at times, he exceeded expectations. He was very explosive to the hole with a nice jump shot.

“Defensively, we had him on the perimeter as with his long arms, he created some extensions for opponents.”

Paramski was an automatic member of the Second Team after just missing out on the First Team, while Hood finished in a three-way tie for the final spot on the Second Team.

Paramski, a 6-2 junior forward, averaged 16 points per game with nine rebounds. He also had eight double-doubles and three triple-doubles.

Hood, a 6-foot senior guard, averaged 14 points per game, five rebounds and five assists.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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