GWINN – The Gwinn boys basketball team knew going into Tuesday night that things weren’t going to be easy against a large and talented Escanaba squad and the Eskymos lived up to the hype.

Escanaba jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back as it defeated the Modeltowners 79=46. Carter Hudson led the Eskymos with 24 points, while Peyton Fedell had 19. James Harnick was Gwinn’s offensive star as he scored 14 points.

“It was a tough matchup tonight with a very talented Escanaba group,” Gwinn head coach Jim Finkbeiner said. “They, of course, are tall, but have great length and really play their zones tough. They shot very well from the 3-point line tonight and made it tough for us to come back because of that. We made runs at them and cut the halftime deficit to 12 in the third and then they went scoreless for about four minutes, but then hit several threes again and we couldn’t score and then the lead lengthened and we couldn’t get closer. They really shot well from the field.”

Escanaba took a 22-10 lead into the second quarter and held a 40-23 advantage at the half. The Eskymos then cruised the rest of the way. The Modeltowners play at Ishpeming tonight.

Republic-Michigamme 49, North Dickinson 42