GAYLORD–The Alpena High hockey team continues to gain momentum.

Tanner Orban scored twice, Matt Thompson had a goal and two assists and the Wildcats defeated Gaylord 4-2 on Friday to win for the fourth time in five games.

Tied 2-2 in the third period, Alpena (5-10-2) got a pair of goals from Orban to pull ahead for good. Orrban scored the game-winner with 4:49 left with assists from Thompson and Anden Marceau and then added a late empty-netter with an assist from Mitch Agius.

“It was a grind, but we hung around,” Alpena coach Chris Limback said. “We’re starting to play more disciplined hockey and that’s been the key to our (recent) success.”

Cam Young scored in the first period with assists from Thompson and Hunter Cantute to give Alpena a 1-0 lead after 17 minutes.

Gaylord tied the game 1-1 after two periods before Thompson scored on a blast from the point with Orban earning the assist.

Gaylord answered with 5:41 left in the third before Alpena took over.

Jimmy Bolanowski made 15 saves for Alpena.

Alpena plays at Petoskey next Friday and at Cadillac next Saturday.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Cadillac 47, Alpena 27

CADILLAC–The Alpena boys basketball team played hard and was competitive on Friday, but faded late in a 47-27 loss to Cadillac.

Alpena (5-3, 1-2 Big North Conference) trailed 26-19 after three quarters, but struggled mightily on offense in the final eight minutes and couldn’t match Cadillac on offense. Alpena was outscored 21-8 in the final quarter, missed some costly shots and was left scrambling at the end.

“All night we played hard, we competed, but offense was the defense. We couldn’t back up our defense with offense,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “The game was a lot closer than the score, but we missed some shots, couldn’t get any 3s and we were scrambling.”

Cadillac led 14-11 after one quarter and 23-15 at halftime. Alpena outscored Cadillac 4-3 in the third quarter during a defensive battle, before the Vikings caught fire.

Jordan Schultz led Alpena with nine points.

Alpena will return home for the first time since Jan. 3 on Tuesday against Petoskey.

Alpena’s JV team lost to Cadillac 47-41 in overtime. Andrew Fisher led Alpena with 16 points and Noah Marquardt had 14.

Alpena’s freshman team lost 53-34. Nicholas Geister led Alpena with nine points and Colt Gray and Devin Lamay each had six.

Hale 84, Atlanta 49

ATLANTA–The Atlanta boys basketball team had a rough night against Hale and lost to the Eagles 84-49 in a North Star League contest.

Hale led 26-15 after one quarter, 41-23 at halftime and 61-36 after three quarters.

Joe Kimmerer paced Hale with 34 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Garrett Beebe had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Trenton Whitt led Atlanta (4-4) with 18 points and Zach Roux had 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Alcona 44,

Rogers City 16

LINCOLN–Anna Loyer scored 11 points, Kelsey Hansen added 10 points and the Alcona girls basketball team earned a key North Star League Big Dipper division win on Friday, defeating Rogers City 44-16.

Alcona (6-3) led 12-7 after one quarter, 19-10 at halftime and 31-14 after three quarters.

Rachel Layton and Liz Henderson each had six points for Alcona.

“We used a real good second half defense to put the game away,” Alcona coach Mark Feldhiser said. “We also picked up the scoring in the half and had real good balance.”

Alcona plays at Fairview on Tuesday.