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Mountaineers wear down Gwinn, Grazulis powers Redmen

By Journal Sports Staff

GWINN — Iron Mountain made its presence known on the boards and wore down a smaller Gwinn team for an 83-58 boys basketball victory on Friday night.

The undefeated and Upper Peninsula No. 1 Mountaineers got 30 points from Foster Wonders and 26 from Marcus Johnson.

Tucker Taylor paced the Modeltowners (4-5) with 18 points, while Austin Forbes added 15 and James Harnick 11.

“The biggest thing was we gave up too many second-chance points,” said GHS coach Jim Finkbeiner, who didn’t have rebounding numbers available. “They didn’t shoot really well early on, but they used their size — not just their height as they had about 30 pounds on every one of our guys — to get a lot of offensive rebounds.

“We played really hard against the No. 1 team in the U.P.”

IM didn’t hurt its cause with a big advantage at the free throw line, making 20 of 24 (83 percent) to just 6 of 15 (40 percent) for Gwinn.

The Mountaineers also won the JV game 53-45.

Marquette 70,

Menominee 50

At Marquette, 6-foot-10 center Marius Grazulis scored 27 points that included a 3-pointer in each of the middle two quarters.

He also pulled down 15 rebounds along with making two blocks.

They needed all of his offense as no other Redman exceeded 10 points — that was the amount put in by Raffy Millado — and Marquette had a hard time shaking the Maroons.

Marquette led 16-13 after one quarter and 34-23 at halftime as Menominee stayed within shouting distance at 49-39 after three quarters.

The Redmen made 27 of 59 shots (46 percent), including 6 of 20 3-pointers (30 percent).

North Dickinson 46,

Superior Central 38

At Eben on Thursday, North Dickinson used its size to get inside and overtake the Cougars in the fourth quarter.

SC (2-6, 2-4 Skyline Central) managed just four points in the fourth to give up a 34-32 lead at the start of the period. The four points equaled the Cougars’ number of their turnovers in the quarter.

“We started rushing a little too much on offense,” SC coach Branson Richard said of the late struggles. The Nordics (4-4, 4-3) made 5 of 10 free throws in the final period.

“Those turnovers and fouls hurt us,” Richard said. “Once they took the lead we started to rush too much. There was plenty of time left but got in our own heads or something.”

The Cougars host Stephenson on Friday.

Escanaba 63,

Manistique 54

At Manistique on Thursday, the Emeralds (3-6) tried their best to get a second upset this season of a Delta County team — they defeated Gladstone earlier — with a rally down the stretch that tightened the final score.

After the Eskymos had a seven-point lead when they missed a free throw, the Emeralds went the length of the floor with Wyatt Gierke scoring for the hosts and Escanaba’s Carter Hudson being assessed a technical foul for slapping the backboard while trying for a block.

Manistique missed the free throws but buried a 3-point shot to make it a two-point game.

“Manistique got a break and made the most of it,” EHS coach Tracy Hudson said. “It was a tight game most of the night, then we built a cushion toward the end.”

The Eskymos were led by Jared Nash with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Craig Kamin had 13 points and Carter Hudson 11 points.

“The minute we would get control of the game we would have a defensive breakdown and give up a three or someone would sneak behind us,” Hudson said.

Schyler Anderson scored 22 points for the Emeralds, Kanton Lauzone added 16 and Gierke had 10 points.

The Eskymos also won the JV game 61-24.

Manistique hosts Iron Mountain Thursday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee with contributions from the Escanaba Daily Press. Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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