News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Chris DeRocher (33) prepares to split a pair of Traverse City Central defenders Tobin Schwannecke (2) and Henry Goldkuhle (5) during the third quarter of a North Star League boys basketball game on Friday at Alpena High School. The Wildcats dropped their regular season finale, falling by a final score of 57-49.

A four-minute stretch to begin the third quarter proved to be costly for the Alpena boys basketball team on Friday.

After playing a solid first half, especially on the defensive end, the Wildcats surrendered 14 straight points to open the second half and fell behind double digits.

Despite making a valiant comeback to the game early in the fourth quarter, Alpena (16-4, 6-4 Big North Conference) didn’t quite have enough in the tank to take down rival Traverse City Central (11-8, 7-3 BNC), falling 57-49 in the regular season finale.

“We came out in the second half and were really poor defensively. They (Central) just kept breaking us down off the dribble way too easy and offensively we just really struggled to make shots and it was one and done every time, we didn’t get many second chances and they just capitalized on those opportunities,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “We had too many turnovers and too many breakdowns defensively in that whole second half and we gave up way too many points in the second half. Central is too good of a team and you know they’re going to make a little bit of a run, but our defense really let us down tonight in the second half.”

After leading 21-19 at the break and playing a strong first half defensively, Central scored 14 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch to open the third quarter and take a 33-21 lead.

The Wildcats scratched and clawed their way back in the game and did all they could to change the momentum.

Alpena got a boost as the third quarter buzzer went off as senior Chris DeRocher stole the ball, dribbled the length of the court and laid one up and in right before the clock hit zeros to bring cut the lead to 37-30 after three quarters.

The Wildcats scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two as Bruz Copping got a shot to fall and DeRocher nailed a deep three to bring the ruckus Alpena crowd to its feet and forced Central coach Travis Schuba to call a timeout.

The Wildcats tied the game 39-39 with 5:30 left when DeRocher scored a layup after Alpena forced a turnover and Copping got a contested shot to fall after Central had taken the lead back.

With just under five minutes left, both teams were deadlocked at 41.

“I told our guys we have great character in our room. It’s a great group of guys that want to compete and they truly want to win and they’re going to do the things they have to and despite getting down, I thought we showed great fight, our guys just kept battling to get it back and tie it,” Pintar said. “We had some opportunities, but in close situations tonight, we made the mistakes and they made the plays. If we can just flip a couple plays where we get a lead and put pressure on the other team, then it can be a different story, but we were forced to chase and it makes it tough when you’re playing high quality opponents.”

Tobin Schwannecke put the Trojans on his back late in the fourth and scored four straight Central points. Schwannecke finished with 18 points.

Along with Schwannecke, Preston Briggs came up big in the fourth, scoring eight of his game high 19 points in the final quarter to help the Trojans hang on for a BNC win on the road.

Alpena cut the lead to one point on three separate occasions with under 3:30 to play, including DeRocher hitting a three with 1:32 left to cut the lead to 50-49, but it was as close as the Wildcats got the rest of the way. The Trojans closed the game out with free-throws late and Alpena failed to get another big shot to fall.

DeRocher led Alpena with 16 points and Copping added 11 to lead the Wildcats.

Alpena finishes the regular season on a sour note, dropping their final two games and final two BNC games after having a chance to claim a conference title with two wins.

The Wildcats will have a few days off to regroup to prepare for postseason play.

Alpena drew a first round bye and will travel to play the winner of the Marquette, TC Central game on Wednesday at the winner’s gym.

“My motto to these guys all year was do you want to be good or do you want to be great. There was no doubt in my mind going into the year we were going to win 10 games and it was whether or not we wanted to get to an elite team where we win 15 plus game. For us to go 16-4, I told the guys it’s a great regular season. The final two games left a bitter taste, but if you told me we were going to go 16-4 this year, I would gladly take it,” Pintar said.

If Alpena is victorious in its district semifinal matchup, the Wildcats would return home to host the district championship game next Friday.

The Alpena JV team lost to Central by a final of 44-30. Cooper Bright led the way with 11 points and Keegan Hahn added nine points.

The Alpena freshman team also lost, falling by a score of 59-47. Austin Prue led the Wildcats with 19 points.

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BOX SCORE: Field goals made/Free-throws made/Free-throws attempted/Total points

TC CENTRAL (57): T. Schwannecke, 7 3-9 18; H. Goldkuhle, 1 0-0 2; P. Briggs, 6 5-7 19; S. Schmitt, 1 0-0 2; T. McCoon, 1 0-0 2; J. Sherwin, 3 0-0 6; C. Briggs, 3 0-0 6; J. Burnham, 1 0-0 2.

ALPENA (49): Co. Donajkowski, 1 0-0 2; J. Schmanski, 1 2-2 4; A. Goike, 1 1-2 3; B. Copping, 5 4-4 11; J. Duncan, 1 3-6 6; K. Stark, 1 0-0 2; C. DeRocher, 4 5-6 16.