EBEN — The Mid Peninsula and Superior Central boys looked like they would have a tight contest during the first half of their Class D district basketball opener on Monday night.

A big second half by Mid Pen, however, ended any chance of a dramatic conclusion as the Wolverines broke away for a 68-49 victory over the host Cougars.

Mid Pen (6-14) advances to Wednesday’s title contest against Rapid River (9-12).

MP junior guard Duane Englund scored a career-high 31 points in this matchup, including a layup along the baseline that gave the Wolverines a 25-20 lead three seconds before halftime.

“It was just one of those nights which everything was falling,” he said. “Anytime you can score right before the buzzer, it’s a lift. Basketball is a game of runs. Once you get on a run, it’s hard to stop it. The bigger the lead, the harder you have to work.”

The Wolverines opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run, gaining a 33-20 cushion on a 25-foot jump shot by junior guard Terry Brower slightly more than two minutes into the period.

“The first half was dog-eat-dog and it started scaring me a little,” Mid Pen coach Mark Branstrom said. “We had a lot more energy and confidence on the floor than we have in a long time.

“We had some scenarios where I don’t think they were focused enough in practices and games. I think the guys were a lot more focused tonight.”

Mid Pen’s advantage grew to as much as 57-33 midway through the fourth stanza on a free throw by freshman Zach Englund.

The Cougars led 7-2 less than three minutes into the contest. The Wolverines, however, surged to 15-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.

SC regained leads of 18-17 and 20-19 midway through the second before Duane Englund scored on a lay-in and a layup to put Mid Pen up 23-20.

“Duane is athletic and can do that on any given night, and Mitch had an excellent game,” Branstrom said.

Barron finished with 10 points for the Wolverines, who held a 30-28 rebounding edge, drained 23 of 52 field goals and committed 16 turnovers.

“We got a lot of open looks against their zone, only the ball didn’t go down,” Cougars’ coach Matt Rondeau said. “Several times we had wide-open cutters, but the ball didn’t get there. Hopefully, those are the things the guys can learn from and I think they will.

“This was a disappointing season. Physically we can match up with anybody, only our basketball IQ isn’t there yet.”

Sophomore Beau Rondeau scored 14 points and senior Luke Leppanen added 12 for the Cougars, who were 18 of 62 from the field and had 11 miscues.

“I thought Beau shot the ball real well,” Coach Rondeau said. “I wish we could have gotten him more open looks because they contained Joe (Heinonen) pretty good. We were playing good ball in the first half, but we couldn’t stop Englund, period.

“Duner’s layup right before the half hurt us. We knew it was coming, but nobody rotated on him.

“Early in the third quarter, we had some inexcusable defensive mistakes. Once they got up by double digits, I knew we had an uphill battle. They had a lot of momentum at that point.”