Photo by Steve Jakubsin Alpena Wildcats freshman Bryton Nostrant lets loose a jumpshot during Alpena’s 66-62 come-from-behind win on Friday.

ALPENA – The Alpena High School varsity boy’s basketball team not only celebrated the induction of new members into the school’s Wall of Fame, but also a thrilling 66-62 win over the rival Gaylord Blue Devils on Friday night.

The win pushes Alpena’s record to 7-5, while Gaylord falls to 5-5.

Junior Wyatt Srebnik brought the crowd to life early in the first quarter, as he connected on a pair of shots to help the Wildcats jump ahead..

The lead would change hands numerous times throughout the opening quarter, but Gaylord managed to pull away near the end of the quarter. To lead 22-15 as the horn sounded at the end of the first quarter.

There was a theme for Friday’s game, Gaylord would start to pull away, only for the Wildcats to storm right back.

With a little under six minutes left in the half, Gaylord opened up a 10-point lead, 27-17, but the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run, capped off by a nice bank shot from freshman Bryton Nostrant.

Gaylord held a slim 35-31 lead at the intermission and that set up a thrilling second half.

Nostrant got the action going for Alpena to start the third quarter, stealing a pass from Gaylord, then drawing a foul on his lay-up attempt. Nostrant sank both free throw attempts, to make it a one-score game.

With under five minutes to play in the third quarter, with Alpena inbounding under their own basket, Nostrant delivered a perfect pass to Srebnik cutting to the hoop for a bucket, which once again helped the Wildcats pull closer to the Blue Devils after they began to open up a lead again.

Gaylord would extend their lead to as many as eleven in the closing minutes of the third quarter and Alpena Head Coach Evan Neff called a timeout to slow the momentum. The move worked, as Alpena rallied and only trailed by six points, 51-45, entering the final stanza.

Alpena started the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run that included a beautiful drive to the basket by Nostrant who drained a fade away jump shot in the lane for two points.

On the next offensive possession, Junior Conner Tulgestka finished strong at the hoop, drew a foul and drained the free throw to give Alpena their first lead since the first quarter, 53-51.

With Alpena holding onto a two-point lead, Tulgetska drove to the basket, pump faked his man, and hit the bank shot, extending the Wildcats’ lead to 59-55.

Gaylord might have had a case of déjà vu in the closing minutes of the game because Tulgetska would finish strong at the hoop on the next two offensive possessions. Extending the Alpena lead to 63-56.

The closing moments of the game matched the back-and-forth theme of the night. The Blue Devils did not go down without a fight.

Senior guard Kaven Cole drove and finished at the rim, drawing the foul, but could not connect on the free throw attempt.

With Alpena’s lead narrowed to 64-62, Neff called his third and final timeout.

On Alpena’s next offensive possession, Nostrant was fouled, he went to the line, and converted one of two free throws to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 65-62.

Gaylord could not connect on a three point shot on its final possession, and sophomore Kyler Peterson secured the rebound. Peterson was fouled and slit at the free-throw line to help Alpena close out the win.

Neff discussed his team’s effort, in another gritty win.

“It’s a gritty win off a very disappointing loss,” Neff said. “Big North wins are hard to come by, and we had to earn this one. Gaylord is always a battle for us, I’m glad we did enough to win.”

Nostrant led all scorers with 18 points, while Tulgestka contributed 17 points, Chase Coulon added 12 points, and Srebnik had nine points.