Wildcats open postseason with hard-fought victory over Gaylord
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ALPENA -- It's hard to beat a team three times in one season.
Just don't tell that to the Alpena High boys basketball team.
The Wildcats opened postseason play on Monday and for the third time this season, Alpena defeated Big North Conference rival Gaylord.
This time the Wildcats put an end to the Blue Devils season, winning 48-42 to advance to tomorrow's district semifinal game.
Gaylord's valiant attempt to take Wildcats' leading scorer Cooper Bright out of the game completely with a constant double team each time Alpena touched the ball backfired.
The Blue Devils enjoyed a few minutes of success early on. They held a lead while executing the 'Bright's out' game plan, but late in the first quarter, Alpena solved the problem and took advantage of open shooters beyond the arc.
The Wildcats scored the final seven points of the opening quarter to take a 14-12 lead and Austin Prue made the Blue Devils pay for doubling Bright, drilling three shots from behind the long line.
Prue scored 11 of his team-high 14 points in the first half.
Easton Srebnik drilled a pair of triples and in a first half where their leading scorer was held to just two points, Alpena took a 29-20 lead into the half.
"We've worked on a lot of different scenarios, not quite to the extent we saw tonight, but we have worked on a lot of double teams and when you get another team doing it to you in a big game it's different," Alpena coach John Pintar said. "In situations like we had tonight, it just comes down to guys hitting the open shots and tonight we made enough of them. Hats off to Gaylord, I thought they put together a fantastic effort, but credit to our guys as well for being up to the challenge and coming through with a hard-fought win."
Offense slowed down in the second half for both teams, but fortunately for the Wildcats, their inside game in the third and fourth quarters made up for their cold perimeter shooting. Mason Mumford and Ryan Voltz were strong in the paint late through the final two quarters.
The Blue Devils were able to cut the lead to 36-30 with just over five minutes to play, but Alpena refused to let the game get any closer.
"Postseason basketball is about defense. We have to find a way to defend and I think we'll find a way to score enough points, but if we shut teams down and hold teams to 40 points, we should be winning the basketball game," Pintar said. "I think we're a good team. You don't do what we've done all year without being a good team and yes Cooper (Bright) has been that guy for us all year, but we have other guys that can contribute and that's what you saw tonight."
The Wildcats will square off with another conference foe, taking on Traverse City Central tomorrow at 6 p.m. with a trip to a district championship on the line.
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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points
ALPENA (48): C. Bright, 1 6-6 8; M. Mumford, 6 0-0 12; R. Voltz, 4 0-0 8; E. Srebnik, 2 0-0 6; A. Prue, 4 3-4 14.
GAYLORD (42): G. Freeman, 4 2-2 14; A. Vanderveer, 1 0-0 2; L. Gelow, 6 1-2 16; B. Pretzlaff, 3 1-3 8.