News Photo by Owen Kinzey Alpena’s Brady Kollen (5) handles the ball during the opening minutes of a boys basketball game on Tuesday at Alpena High School. Kollen was one of six Alpena seniors honored during Senior Night.

ALPENA — The Alpena High boys basketball team hosted its annual Senior Night on Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Alpena was defeated by Midland Dow by a final score of 66-54.

The Chargers were superior on both ends of the floor and were outstanding in the post all night.

Although the Wildcats ended up losing in the end, six different seniors were honored for their high school basketball careers.

“Going into the year, my favorite thing about this team was the leadership from our seniors. We have a great group of guys that are all really good friends and our chemistry is great,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “I’m super grateful for all the seniors that set a great example for the younger guys and really bring this team together.”

Midland Dow grabbed the early momentum while the Wildcats got off to a very slow start. The Chargers took a 9-1 lead and were in a great position to run away with the lead.

After a lineup change, the Wildcats fought back and eventually tied the game at 15-15.

A few late baskets by Dow gave it a 19-15 lead going into the second quarter.

Going into the second quarter, the Chargers went out and dominated. Dow controlled the offensive and defensive rebounds while scoring at will down low.

Midland went on a 10-0 run that was another massive momentum shift.

By the end of the first half, Alpena trailed 37-24 going into halftime.

After a locker room discussion and a different game plan, the Wildcats came out strong.

A couple of monumental baskets from senior Brady Kollen and Tucker Bright took the game back to a single-digit differential.

Dow began to extend its lead again, but back-to-back threes from Easton Srebnik cut the Chargers lead to seven.

At the end of the third quarter, the Wildcats were down 38-47.

Even though Alpena was down in the game, the Wildcats fought until the end.

Devin Lamay had a great fourth quarter after he knocked down two straight threes in a row.

Dow finished the game off with ease, and won 66-54.

“I was really pleased with how we played because that’s a really good basketball team. We fell down in that game several times, but we fought back and played hard until the buzzer. This game shows that we can compete and battle with anyone we play,” Pintar said.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Bright who had 16 points. Alpena’s second-leading scorer was Srebnik finishing with 15 points. On Senior Night, Kollen scored eight points, Zach Kunath scored one point, Lamay scored eight points, and Colt Gray scored six points.

Leading Dow in scoring was Ian Balch scoring 24 points while Chris Zielinski scored the second most points with 15.

The Wildcats play Gaylord on Friday.