OSCODA–In a highly anticipated battle of two top North Star League teams, the Oscoda boys basketball team came out decidedly on top Thursday, routing Mio 72-43 at home.

Owen Franklin poured in 26 points for the Owls (2-0), who had four double-digit scorers.

Brayden Mallak added 18 points, Gavin Lueck had 12 and Gabe Kellstrom had 10.

Brendan DeFlorio led Mio (1-1) with 12 points.

Oscoda plays at Tawas on Tuesday.

Hale 60, Hillman 32

HILLMAN–Joe Kimmerer scored 29 boys and the Hale boys basketball team got the jump on Hillman early on Thursday, riding an early momentum wave to a 60-32 win in Hillman.

The Tigers (0-2) trailed 18-6 after one quarter, 34-16 at halftime and 52-17 after three quarters as Hale outscored them 18-1 in the third quarter alone.

“It was same thing (that hurt us) against Whittemore-Prescott. We had long droughts where we couldn’t score,” Hillman coach Eric Muszynski said. “I thought we played a decent first quarter, but we missed too many shots and it’s really hard to win many games like that.”

Isaac Morrison and Gunner Mellingen paced Hillman with eight points each.

Hillman plays at Atlanta on Monday.

Rogers City 80, W-P 45

WHITTEMORE–Nick Freel scored 31 points and the Rogers City boys basketball team earned its first win of the 2019-20 season on Thursday, beating Whittemore-Prescott 80-45.

The Hurons (1-1) led 41-25 at halftime and kept the offense rolling the rest of the way. Lewis Fleming added 16 points, J.D. Ellenberger had 12 and Dylan LaFleche had six.

“We played a nice complete game from start to finish. They really responded from Monday and came out and worked on our weaknesses,” Rogers City coach Matt Ponik said. “We cut down on our turnovers and played really good team ball.”

Alex Kendra led the Cardinals with 10 points.

Rogers City plays at Mio on Monday.

WRESTLING

Alpena splits in

season opener

GAYLORD–The Alpena High wrestling team opened the season at a quad in Gaylord on Wednesday, splitting a pair of matchups.

Alpena wrestled Oscoda first and lost 54-33 with four voids. Bruno Mucciante won an 11-5 decision for Alpena and Mason Bray, Matt Barrett, Aiden Chism and heavyweight Gunner Spencer all won by pin.

Alpena bounced back to beat Rogers City 39-27 in its second matchup. The Hurons had seven voids and Alpena had five.

Bray and Chism each won by pin and Barrett won by decision, 3-1, in overtime.