HOUGHTON — Upending West-PAC co-champion Calumet earlier this week was a feather in the cap of a young Houghton High boys basketball team.

Dealing with a deep and speedy Marquette squad Thursday evening was a different proposition.

The top-ranked team in the UPSSA large school poll rolled into Houghton on an 18-game win streak. The made it 19 in a row with a 78-34 win over the Gremlins.

“They (Redmen) are a quality basketball team,” HHS coach Jared Lawson said after the regular season finale.

“They’re quick, deep and they can shoot, and they keep coming at you.”

Marquette coach Brad Nelson noted that he has a roster of players that are pretty much interchangeable.

“We’ve got a lot of depth and a lot of athletes who are also basketball players,” Nelson commented.

Nelson said his team normally puts up 25 three-point attempts per game. They connected on ten last night.

“We were making them earlier in the game, then fell off,” he said. “But we had a pretty safe lead by then.”

The Orange and Black played well in the opening quarter and actually took a 9-8 lead on a basket by Chris Filpus.

Filpus, the only senior on the Gremlins roster, scored nine points in the first frame.

But a pair of 3-pointers by Chris Ostrowsky pushed the Redmen into a 19-13 lead by quarter’s end.

A 23-12 advantage in the second quarter by the victors made it 42-25 by the half as Ethan Martsyz knocked down three triples and Alex DuVall scored nine points.

“Ethan Martysyz had a nice game,” Nelson noted. “He and Alex (Duvall) were shooting the ball well.”

With a 61-34 margin after three periods, the Redmen coasted home as HHS went scoreless in the final stanza.

The Gremlins, closing at 5-13, received a nice game from Filpus, who laced a team-best 17 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds to lead in that department.

Duvall paced the Marquette offense with 23 points, followed by Martsyz with 19 and Ostrowsky with 15.

Lawson said his message to his team was simple.

“I told them to learn from this one, but to focus on Kingsford,” he said, referring to the Gremlins opening round district tourney foe at home on Monday.

Marquette will also prepare for district action next week.