News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Cooper Bright (33) scores while being defended by Cheboygan’s Jacob Grondin during the first half of a boys basketball game on Tuesday at Alpena High School.

Alpena High boys basketball assistant coach Tim Hoes had a simple message for the Wildcats on Tuesday: Play hard and have fun.

The Wildcats took that message to heart and responded with one of their best performances of the season.

Kelley Stark scored 21 points, Jack Schmanski added 17 and all nine of Alpena’s players scored in an 81-46 win over Cheboygan.

Jadon Duncan added 15 for the Wildcats (8-5), whose 81 points marked a season high.

Led by a consistent, dominant offense and a defense that improved over the course of the game, especially in the second half, the Wildcats got a much-needed win after a hard loss to Traverse City Central last week.

“That (playing hard and having fun) was kind of the theme from the beginning. When you have a tough game like that, you have a bad taste in your mouth and it was a great response for our guys,” Alpena coach John Pntar said. “Everybody played, everybody scored and it was just a good team effort. It was something we kind of needed.”

Alpena scored on its first four offensive possessions and forced a turnover for another basket before the game was two minutes old. The Wildcats’ ability to move the ball well and score inside as well as from long range, ultimately proved too much for the Chiefs to keep pace with.

Alpena led 25-14 after one quarter, but pulled out to a 40-24 lead by halftime and a 66-37 lead after three quarters.

Stark got Alpena’s offense going early, draining three triples in the first quarter alone. Where Stark was a threat from outside, Schmanski was a force inside, fighting for rebounds and putting them back for second-chance points. Duncan took over in the second half, scoring 11 points and hustling past the Chiefs for easy buckets.

Jordan Schultz added eight points and Adam Urlaub had seven points for Alpena, which even got baskets from Remus Rushton (a reverse layup in the third quarter) and Patrick McCourt (inside feed for a layup in the fourth quarter).

“Offensively, we got off to a really nice start and in all four quarters I thought we were really consistent offensively. When you score 81 points, you’re doing a good job,” Pintar said. “I thought we got up and down the court really well in transition and were able to get some easy baskets.

Robert Bruce led Cheboygan with nine points and the Chiefs got seven each from Jacob Stempky, Ethan Kujawa, David Millmine and Michael Gofourth. After a decent first half, the Chiefs struggled against Alpena’s defense and find more than a few of their shots blocked as Alpena’s defense progressively got more in-sync.

The Wildcats will quickly turn their attention to a Big North Conference showdown at Petoskey on Friday. Alpena lost a close game to the Northmen at home last month and are looking for redemption this time around.

“Petoskey’s one of the top teams in our conference, so obviously going over there is going to be really tough,” Pintar said.

Alpena’s JV defeated Cheboygan 45-29. Andrew Fisher paced Alpena with 14 points and Mason Mumford added 10.

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

ALPENA (81): A. Urlaub 3 0-0 7; J. Schmanski 6 5-6 17; R. Ruston 1 1-2 3; L. Tucker 1 0-0 2; J. Duncan 6 3-3 15; K. Stark 9 0-0 21; C. Bright 2 1-2 6; J. Schultz 4 0-0 8; P. McCourt 1 0-0 2.

CHEBOYGAN (46): J. Stempky 3 0-1 7; E. Kujawa 2 2-2 7; A. Kosanke 1 0-0 3; D. Millmine 2 2-2 7; M. Gofourth 3 1-2 7; R. Bruce 3 3-4 9; J. Grondin 2 0-0 4; T. Schley 1 0-0 2.