News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Mason Mumford (24) goes up for a shot during the second quarter of a boys basketball game against Bay City Western on Thursday at Alpena High School.

ALPENA — After a sluggish, but victorious season opener a week ago, the Alpena High boys basketball team responded in a big way in its second game of the season as the Wildcats dominated visiting Bay City Western on Thursday.

Alpena got a stellar effort from the Bright brothers and Mason Mumford as the trio combined to outscore the Warriors by themselves, combining for 52 points on the night.

Cooper Bright led the way with 24 points and Tucker Bright and Mason Mumford each added 14 points apiece to propel the Wildcats to a convincing 71-50 win over Bay City Western.

“I thought our transition was fantastic early on. We got the stops, got good pressure on defense and our defensive rebounding was great off the misses. We got a lot of layups, a lot of easy baskets and I thought the entire first half we played fantastic,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “I was really happy our guys came out and played with great tempo. You can’t ask for a much better effort than what we had to start the game tonight.”

Alpena wasted little time jumping all over the Warriors, scoring the first nine points of the game and closing the first quarter with 13 unanswered points to take a commanding 22-3 lead.

The Wildcats weren’t satisfied and continued building on the lead throughout the second quarter.

The Bright brothers led the way, combining for 26 first-half points. Cooper paced Alpena with 15 of his game-high 24 points in the first half and Tucker added 11 of his 14 points in the first half as the Wildcats held a 39-14 lead at the break.

Fortunately, Alpena built a huge first-half lead. The Wildcats’ play in the third quarter wasn’t nearly as sharp as they seemed to lose a bit of focus, turning the ball over and playing sloppy in the third, but still were able to maintain a 53-35 lead heading into the fourth and closed the game out to improve to 2-0 early in the season.

“I thought tonight we made that step you need to make from game one to game two,” Pintar said. “I was very pleased with how we played tonight and our effort.”

The Wildcats will be back in action today when they travel to Cadillac for their Big North Conference opener.

The Alpena JV team lost by a score of 47-33 to Bay City Western.

The Wildcats were led by Zach Kunath who scored eight points and Caleb McEwen added seven points.

The Alpena freshman team lost a 34-32 heartbreaker to Bay City Western. Oliver Duthler led Alpena with 12 points and Connor Cameron chipped in with 11 points.

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

ALPENA (71): D. LaMay, 1 2-2 4; R. Voltz, 3 3-4 9; C. Gray, 0 1-2 1; L. Young, 0 1-2 1; E. Srebnik, 2 0-0 4; T. Bright, 5 4-6 14; M. Mumford, 6 2-7 14; C. Bright, 8 7-12 24.

BAY CITY WESTERN (50): D. Buck, 1 2-4 4; K. Frost, 4 2-2 10; Z. Cookenmaster, 0 2-2 2; J. Decuf, 2 0-0 6; G. Coonan, 2 0-0 6; C. Rosinski, 2 0-0 6; L. Yates, 5 1-3 11; L. Failing, 2 0-0 5.