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UPDATED: Strong outside shooting leads Tawas past Alpena

News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Tucker Bright (4) looks for a teammate to pass to during the first half of a boys basketball game on Monday against Tawas at Alpena High School. Bright was one of Alpena’s leading scorers, finishing the game with 14 points.

ALPENA — In a tough season, the Alpena High boys’ basketball team’s schedule isn’t getting any easier.

The Wildcats played Tawas on Monday and ended up losing in a 76-40 blowout. The Braves poured on 17 three-pointers, leaving Alpena with no answer.

“They shot the ball really well and they have a really nice combination of guys that are big and guys that can shoot the basketball,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “That was just a really good basketball team and we couldn’t stop them.”

Alpena started the game off very competitive with Tawas, but struggled to crash and capitalize on defensive rebounds.

Colt Gray continued to be a force down low for the Wildcats as he recorded the first four points of the game and kept the Braves from scoring on defense.

News Photo by James Andersen Alpena sophomore Oliver Duthler (42) shoots a hook shot while being defended by Tawas’ Ethan Hedglin during the first half of a boys basketball game on Monday at Alpena High School. Backed by a barrage of three-pointers, Tawas defeated Alpena 76-40 and was led by Alex Kaems, who had 31 points. Colt Gray and Tucker Bright led Alpena with 14 points each. A full recap of Monday’s game will run in a future edition of The News.

Although Tawas had difficulties scoring in the paint early, its three point shooting became apparent early and did not slow down. The Braves knocked down three threes in just the first quarter and had a 19- 13 lead going into the second.

Starting the second quarter, Alex Kaems began his unbelievable game. Kaems scored the first 16 points of the quarter for Tawas and was unstoppable for the rest of the game.

Alpena’s offense could not answer back to Kaems, which led to an 18-point deficit for the Wildcats going into the break.

“(At half) I told them that we needed to rebound better because they were crashing the boards hard,” Pintar said. “Unless we get more physical, (rebounding) will continue to be an issue,”

Coming out of the half, Tawas didn’t slow down. The Braves recorded a quarter high eight three pointers, with four of them coming from Kaems.

Tawas held Alpena to just six points during the third quarter with no signs of letting up.

The Wildcats were down 68-30 going into the fourth.

The game finished off with 10 points scored by Alpena and eight scored by Tawas.

With these final points, Alpena was defeated by a final score of 76-40.

“We’re going to try and completely wipe this game out. We’re going to take a day off and come back Wednesday and have a good practice. Then we have a winnable game against Gaylord on Friday,” Pintar said. “We need to play better defense. Gaylord also has some very good shooters and we just really need to limit them,”

Alpena leading scorers were Gray and Tucker Bright, both finishing with 14 points.

Leading Tawas in scoring was Kaems with 31, while Vinnie Frank and Granite Barringer had 14 points each.

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