Negaunee’s Gavin Saunders rushes up the court after retrieving a loose ball in the first quarter against Kingsford at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Dec. 29. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — A half-dozen boys basketball players from five area schools gave the area a solid 40% representation on the All-Upper Peninsula Divisions 1-3 First Team and Second Team.

These players were chosen by a group of 18 media members at the annual U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association basketball meeting held Monday at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Because they didn’t include Marquette’s Jacob MacPhee, who had already been kicked “upstairs” to the Dream Team, Westwood was the only area school to get two representatives on these honor squads.

The Patriots’ Ethan Marta, a 6-foot-2 guard, earned his way onto the First Team as one of only two sophomores to make these honor squads in Divisions 1-3.

Leading Westwood to 14-10 overall and 8-4 West PAC records, Marta was voted onto the West PAC Dream Team and Mid-Peninsula Conference First Team.

He averaged 17.8 points per game, shooting 49.4% from the field including 34.5% on 3-pointers, and made 73.8% of his free throws.

Marta also added 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals per contest.

Joining him on the First Team is another 6-2 guard, senior Gavin Saunders of Negaunee. Like Westwood, the Miners also compiled an 8-4 West PAC record while going 15-8 overall.

Their streaky season included a seven-game win string early on and a six-gamer later in the campaign, and interestingly, each streak began immediately after a loss to league champ Iron Mountain.

Saunders was an integral part of that after he made the West PAC Dream Team and M-PC First Team, along with the Defensive Team in both conferences.

His numbers were reported at 15.6 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game.

Westwood’s other representative on these honor squads is 6-4 senior forward Andrew Niemi on the D 1-3 Second Team.

Niemi was selected to the West PAC Iron Division First Team and the M-PC First Team. He averaged 15.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.5 assists a contest, making exactly 50% from the field with 34.4% on triples and sinking 73.3% of his free throw tries.

Joining him on the Second Team were a pair of 6-foot junior guards from other Marquette County schools — Caden Luoma of Ishpeming and Jaxon Jurmu of Marquette.

With the Hematites being the third county squad going 8-4 in the West PAC, Ishpeming finished 13-10 overall as their boys and girls basketball teams straddled the line between Divisions 3 and 4, the boys playing in D-3 while the girls were able to win a state title in D-4.

Luoma put up numbers of 17.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game as he was named to the West PAC Dream Team and M-PC First Team.

Jurmu, a Great Northern Conference First Team pick, help Marquette win its league with a perfect 8-0 record as the Sentinels finished 20-4 overall after winning a game before bowing out in the rough-and-tumble MHSAA Division 1 tournament.

Jurmu posted 15 points and 5.7 assists per game while making just a shade under 80% on free throws.

The sixth member of the area D 1-3 honorees is 6-3 senior Wyatt Demers of Manistique, whose Emeralds finished at 9-15 after winning both ends of back-to-back games against Bark River-Harris to finish the regular season and open the Division 3 district tournament.

Demers, who actually tied for the most votes in Second Team balloting, averaged 12.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.