Negaunee’s Gavin Jacobson, center, has his shot blocked as he gets sandwiched between Westwood’s Garrett Sundberg, left, and Luke Olson in their game played at Lakeview Memorial Gym in Negaunee on Friday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

NEGAUNEE — Negaunee coach Dan Waterman thought his team could beat Westwood, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy.

After Westwood pulled away in their first matchup, Negaunee used a lockdown defense and rolled with the punches down the homestretch on its home court to deliver a 51-43 triumph in front of a large Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium crowd on Friday night.

Defense for Negaunee (7-3) had to be the key on this big stage, since holding down the formidable Westwood (6-2) offense would be tough as it was averaging 71.4 points per game.

But that what the Miners did, limiting the visitors to just 20 points through three quarters.

Westwood scoring leader Zach Carlson still ended up with 20 points after he scored 12 points in the fourth, but containing him in the halfcourt was what got the Miners over the hump.

“He’s one of the elite players in the (Upper Peninsula) and we knew that we needed to contain him,” Waterman said. “But part of containing him is taking care of the ball offensively.

“I thought we defended him well up in Westwood, but he started the second half up there with steal, steal, layup, layup. We didn’t have turnovers for touchdowns, we didn’t throw the ball away and have it end up being a layup, that was a huge part of it.”

Negaunee used Carlson’s struggles in the first three quarters to take a 35-20 lead early in the fourth. Then Carlson got hot and made three 3-pointers, while Westwood’s full-court pressure helped cut that deficit down to 36-33 with nearly five minutes to go.

“Westwood threw some haymakers, Carlson threw in a 25-footer, that’s a credit to him because he struggled but willed his team back into it,” Waterman said. “They executed the game plan flawlessly for the first three quarters. We wanted to slow the pace down because Westwood is really athletic in transition and we wanted to make them earn everything, and I thought we did a good job of that.

“With the exception of a two-minute stretch when they were pressuring us and we got a little rattled, I thought we were exceptional.”

After seeing their lead nearly evaporate, the Miners responded with seven straight points to go back up 10, then Carlson went out of the game shortly after when he picked up his fifth foul.

Westwood losing its best player and three others to fouling out effectively ended the game. Even though coach Luke Gray’s team made a late push, it was too late.

“It was too little, too late, and you had four people foul out,” Gray said. “We talked about it, though, we’ve talked about it for weeks now that we can’t start as slow as we have because it’s hard to come back, especially in an atmosphere like this and against a good coach and good basketball players.

“We need to start faster, and need to be able to start faster and be able to correct those things earlier.”

The Miners built an early 8-0 lead and seized momentum with baskets from Brody Bell, Ty Jacobson and Jace Turri. Zach Beckman and Nickolas Salzwedel got Westwood back into it with a bucket each, cutting the Miners’ lead to 9-5. Mason Sager ended the quarter with five straight free throws for Negaunee, giving NHS a seven-point lead after one.

The game stayed 16-8 for hours it seemed during the middle of the second quarter, then Beckman and Gavin Jacobson traded two points each. Negaunee worked the lead up to 21-10 before Carlson made his first field goal just before halftime, making it 21-12 at the break.

Coming out of halftime, Westwood still had trouble breaking Negaunee’s half-court defense, only scoring eight points in the third quarter. The Patriots controlled the boards, but couldn’t connect on the offensive end. NHS stuck with it to keep its advantage at 31-20 after three.

Bell and Miners’ teammate Gerald Johnson scored to begin the fourth to build a 15-point lead before Carlson erupted. A 3-pointer by Carlson cut the deficit to 12, the Patriots got a steal and got it back to Carlson again for another 3, and Negaunee’s lead was down to nine.

Johnson made a free throw to put Negaunee up 36-26, but another jolt from Westwood cut it to 36-33. Waterman called timeout and told his team that this was the same situation they were in against Marquette, blowing a fourth-quarter lead and losing down the stretch. He challenged his team, and they responded.

“Some coaches would hide from that, I don’t want our kids to hide from that,” Waterman said. “I want them to know that this was the exact same situation that we failed in before, because I want them to accept that challenge.”

Bell got free from the pressure and made a layup to put Negaunee up five. Johnson took over with 12 fourth-quarter points, while Sager made a pair of free throws. The Miners withstood the Westwood run, and delivered down the stretch.

It’s safe to say that the lesson was learned.

Bell led Negaunee with 15 points and Johnson had 14. Both players, Bell a junior and Johnson a senior, took over for Negaunee in the final minutes.

“Brody (Bell) was so good, he’s a difference maker,” Waterman said. “He adds an athletic dimension that we (otherwise) don’t have. Gerald (Johnson), one of our seniors, just kind of took us home. He made clutch free throws, made a couple of buckets.”

Carlson’s game-high 20 points and Beckman’s 14 weren’t enough for the Patriots. It comes down to the offense lacking cohesion, according to Gray.

“I thought we lacked a team rhythm tonight, it was a lot of individual plays or individual breakdowns where if we come together as a team, we can stop that Negaunee run a little bit earlier and get a run back,” Gray said.

Westwood hosts West Iron County tonight while Negaunee entertains Iron Mountain Tuesday.

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal.net.