Munising’s Kane Nebel, left, drives against Bark River-Harris’ Johnnie Robinette during their MHSAA Division 3 district tournament boys basketball game played in Harris on Monday. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Austin Hemmingson)

HARRIS — No matter the stakes, sometimes simplifying the game is all you need to do to turn things around when they aren’t going your way.

The Munising Mustangs found themselves trailing Bark River-Harris 26-19 at halftime of Monday’s MHSAA Division 3 boys basketball district tournament opener, mainly because they weren’t communicating on screens defensively.

Mustangs coach Terry Kienitz addressed the issue in the locker room, and his team responded by outscoring the Broncos 30-14 in the second half to pull away for a 49-40 victory.

The Upper Peninsula’s Divisions 1-3 fifth-ranked Mustangs (19-2) host Westwood in the district semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday. BR-H finished its season at 11-9.

“(On the) off-ball screens, we were not communicating well through it (in the first half),” Kienitz said. “Even on the ball screens, sometimes we were switching and sometimes we were not. Communication on their screens was just terrible in the first half.

“I pretty much told them exactly what they were going to do on all screens (in the second half), and that was the difference.”

BR-H coach Marc Zawacki saw the same thing.

“They started switching on the screens and kind of doubling down to take away our cutting lines and stuff like that,” Zawacki said. “Give it to Munising, they made the right adjustments.

“In the first half, we were getting out in front of the screens and they were getting caught behind them. In the second half, they were switching on them.

“We tried to make a few adjustments on timeouts and things like that, but we just weren’t able to come out and execute.”

The Broncos initially looked like they might start to pull away further when the second half began, extending their lead to 30-22 when Nick Javurek grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw to maintain possession, then got the ball back in the left corner and buried a triple at the 3:55 mark.

The Mustangs, however, responded with a 12-2 run to go into the fourth quarter leading 34-32. All of Munising’s offense in the quarter came from Kane Nebel and Austin Killips, who combined for 15 points in the period.

“I was telling Austin to keep shooting the ball. You’re my leading scorer and shooters shoot, so keep shooting,” Kienitz said. “Kane’s just getting better every game. I moved around him and gave him a little more freedom against that zone because he’s pretty good when he gets those jumpers in the lane.”

Munising slowly pulled away in the fourth, gaining a 43-37 advantage on a pair of free throws by Jason Cornish with 1:24 left. The Mustangs iced the game at the charity stripe as the Broncos continued to struggle offensively.

Nebel led the Mustangs with 20 points, while Cornish added 12. Javurek led the Broncos with 14 points, while Trenton Wood-Keshick and Carter Zawacki each chipped in with 10.