News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Trevor Roznowski (42) puts up a shot while being defended by Petoskey’s Jake Lee and Ryan Bickel (20) during the first half of a boys basketball game on Tuesday at Alpena High School.

Four days after experiencing the highs of victory, the Alpena boys basketball team felt the stinging disappointment of defeat.

The Wildcats took it on the chin Tuesday, losing to Petoskey 73-40 at Alpena High School as Petoskey got out off to a fast start and didn’t look back.

The Northmen got out to a 13-0 lead to begin the game and burned the Wildcats in every way possible. Whether draining shots from deep–the Northmen finished with nine three-pointers–pounding the ball inside or hounding Alpena defensively,  Petoskey was a force Alpena couldn’t stop.

After winning in double overtime on Friday for its most thrilling and satisfying win in a while, Alpena looked rudderless against an experienced Petoskey squad that didn’t seem to have many weaknesses.

“They just came out fast-paced. They played a real high level of basketball I thought. That’s a really good basketball team that was really clicking and with our youth, it’s a learning experience tonight,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “You’re taking on probably the best team in the conference and they knocked us down and we had a hard time responding.”

Jake Lee scored 23 points and Seth Mann added 15 for the Northmen as they raced out to a 42-11 lead at halftime, thanks in part to Lee working the ball inside and Mann draining four triples.

Alpena cut Petoskey’s 13-0 start to a 13-7 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter, but the Northmen caught fire from there and outscored the Wildcats 29-4 the rest of the half.

Alpena found itself outworked in the second quarter and also ran into foul trouble earlier than it wanted to. Alpena went to its bench in the first quarter, but it paid off as Bruz Copping finally put Alpena on the board in the last two minutes with a three-pointer and a driving layup.

“Those first five minutes were terrible for us, but the game was within reason. We got within 13-7 and (I thought), ‘Ok, maybe we withstood that little bit of a run,'” Pintar said. “Unfortunately we started making mistakes with the basketball.”

Alpena (2-3) responded better in the second half and was only outscored 31-29 in the final two periods. Chris DeRocher, who led Alpena with 17 points, scored 13 of them in the third quarter.

Unfortunately, Alpena’s improvement in the second half couldn’t make up for the massive halftime deficit and Petoskey continued to play well even with a big lead.

“There was nothing they didn’t do to well tonight; whether it was inside, their defense, hitting outside shots,” Pintar said. “I thought going into the year that was the best team in the conference and they certainly showed that tonight.”

Copping added five points for Alpena and Cam DeCaire, Isaac Jore and Trevor Roznowski each had four. Jore provided the highlight of the night for Alpena, sinking a three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the game.

Alpena’s JV team beat Petoskey 43-33. Hadyn Goebel, Aden Smith and Clay Donajowski each had 10 points for the Wildcats.

Petoskey’s freshman team defeated Alpena 43-37. Kelly Stark led Alpena with 14 points and Jaydan Duncan added seven points.

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PETOSKEY (73): S. Mann 5 1-2 15; J. Crittenden 1 0-0 2; N. Snider 3 0-0 6; C. Kingma 3 0-0 8; J, Wilson 4 0-3 8; R. Bickel 2 0-1 5; T. Daniel 1 0-0 2; N. Spadafore 2 0-0 4; J. Lee 10 3-4 23.

ALPENA (40): W. Martin 1 0-0 2; L. Pinger 0 0-1 0; A. Goike 1 0-0 2; B. Copping 2 0-0 5; C. DeCaire 1 2-2 4; I. Jore 1 1-2 4; E. Alexander 0 0-2 0; C. DeRocher 5 5-6 17; L. Guthrie 0 2-3 2;  T. Roznowski 2 0-0 4.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.