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Lumberjacks sweep the Lakers

ACC men earn first win with 112-88 victory over Lakers

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena Community College freshman Austin Brain (53) puts up a shot over LSSU defender Connor Papson (52) during the second half of a men’s basketball game on Saturday at Park Arena. The Lumberjacks won their first game of the year with a 112-88 victory.

The wait is over for the Alpena Community College men’s basketball team.

The Lumberjacks earned their first win of the season on Monday and lit up the scoreboard doing so as they were able to fend off and outscore a pesky Lake Superior State University JV team and win by a final score of 112-88 at Park Arena.

“It was a much needed win. My guys work too hard and there are obviously some areas we need to work on, but they (LSSU) are not a push over. They are a good team who has beaten some decent teams. They just shoot the heck out of the ball, they bring it across half court and just shoot the heck out the ball. My guys just kept plugging away and we went inside out, which has been our goal all season and tonight we did it and did it well,” ACC coach Mark Jacobs said. “I’m extremely proud of my guys. We haven’t given up and it was just a much needed win tonight.”

Despite scoring 112 points, nothing came easy for Alpena in earning its first win of the season as the Lumberjacks led most the way, but every time it looked as if Alpena was going to pull away, the Lakers were right there to keep the game close as LSSU’s three point shooting was a key to keeping them in the game as the Lakers hit 14 threes as a team and got 30 points out of their special playmaking point guard Stone Arnold and 20 more out of Austin Purchase as four Lakers were in double digits, but it wasn’t enough to handle to Lumberjacks as they avenged a loss earlier in the season.

Logan Guenther paced the Lumberjacks, matching Arnold with 30 points of his own. Four other Alpena players scored double digits as Garrett Miller finished with 22 points off the bench and hit five triples. Chris DeRocher added 17 points, Steeve Nicolas scored 14 and Isaac Hogsett chipped in with 10 points

“They are one of the best shooting teams that we have played against this year. They fire it up and they’re not afraid. They are a great group of young men,” Jacobs said. “Obviously very pleased with the effort and what our guys were able to do tonight, but now the test is to see what we can do the rest of league play. The effort was there tonight and our guys were feeding off of each other tonight.”

After taking a 13 points lead with just under six minutes to go, it looked as if the Lumberjacks were going to coast to the finish line, but LSSU responded with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to two with just over six minutes to play.

It was as close as Alpena let the game get the rest of the way as the Lumberjacks closed strong and played solid at both ends of the floor in the games’ final five minutes as they were able to extend the lead and finally put the Lakers away.

“I think this is basically what the doctor ordered. We really needed this win,” Jacobs said. “I hope we’re feeling good after this win, but we have to come back Wednesday and we’ll be ready to play. Now we have a little confidence and some guys shot the ball well and we played well. Hopefully this is something that we can build off of and I think we will.”

Along with a team high 30 points, Guenther grabbed 17 rebounds to finish with a double-double.

All 12 Lumberjacks cracked the scoring column in the win and Alpena will look to build off of their first win in their second of three consecutive home games when the Lumberjacks host Oakland Community College on Wednesday.

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

ALPENA (112): L. Guenther, 12 4-6 30; T. Ross, 1 0-0 2; S. Nicolas, 6 2-6 14; C. DeRocher, 7 3-5 17; I. Hogsett, 4 0-0 10; C. Baker, 1 0-0 3; H. Goebel, 1 0-0 2; G. Miller, 7 3-4 22; A. Funk, 1 0-0 3; G. Snyder, 2 1-2 5; T. Woodward, 1 0-0 2; A. Brain, 1 0-0 2.

LSSU (88): J. Heistan, 6 0-1 14; S. Arnold, 10 7-9 30; R. Zuhlke, 5 3-3 18; B. Shultz, 2 0-0 6; A. Purchase, 4 10-14 20.

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