News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena senior Jordan Schultz (left) makes a shot over Bay City Western defender Aaron Norfleet (44) during the first quarter of a boys basketball game on Tuesday at Alpena High School.

After losing its last three games by a combined four points, the Alpena High boys basketball team was determined to get on back on track Tuesday when it welcomed Bay City Western.

After a sluggish opening quarter, the Wildcats started firing on all cylinders and snapped their three-game skid in a big way, defeating the Warriors 76-41 in their regular season home finale.

Alpena (10-9) opened the game with six straight points, but Western kept itself in the game thanks to its ability to shoot the three ball. The Warriors hit three treys in the quarter and outscored Alpena 11-4 to close out the first quarter, taking a 16-14 lead after eight minutes.

The Wildcats attacked early in the second, scoring the first 16 points of the quarter to break the game wide open and grab a 30-16 lead.

Alpena held the Warriors to just six points in the quarter and poured in 27 points of its own to take a commanding 41-22 lead at the break.

“It was a lot easier on the heart tonight. We had a slow start in the first quarter defensively, but the second quarter was a really good quarter for us offensively. We did well on the offensive end, but it was our defense that was the key,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “We kept emphasizing that coming in and all night, creating turnovers and I thought the second quarter we really did a good job of that, getting a lead going into the half.”

Alpena continued to play well at both ends of the floor in the third quarter and maintained its comfortable lead, but then came out strong in the final quarter.

The Wildcats started the fourth quarter in attack mode as they continued to find ways to score. The Wildcats tightened up on the defense end and forced turnovers that led to easy baskets. The Wildcats scored 17 of the first 19 points of the quarter, including 15 straight to take a 74-38 lead with two minutes to play and coasted to a blowout victory.

“It was like everything came together at times tonight. The defense was really good, we were really aggressive and we had some good run outs, but we also hit some tough shots. I thought Kelley (Stark) got hot for us and hit some jump shots and Jordan (Schultz) and Jack (Schmanski) couldn’t be contained inside and they got inside and got some easy baskets for us so that was huge,” Pintar said. “It’s awesome to win in your home finale. We lost so many quality players from last year and your not sure what you’re really going to have, but this group of seniors have really stepped up and done a fantastic job of giving us a great year. We’ve been competitive almost every game and a shot here or there and we have a few more wins. It’s always fun when your team gets to enjoy a win, especially after the last three games that we had, it was definitely something more fun and enjoyable for everybody and it’s a great way to wrap up the regular season at home.”

The senior trio of Kelley Stark, Jordan Schultz and Jack Schmanski combined to outscore the Warriors as Schmanski led all scorers with 16 points and Schultz and Stark each had 15 points in the win.

The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season on Thursday when they travel to Traverse City Central. Alpena will try and play the role of spoiler against the Trojans who are playing for a chance to win a share of a Big North Conference title.

Not only will the Wildcats play Central in the regular season finale, but Alpena will travel to Central on Monday to play the Trojans in the first round of district play.

“There would really be nothing better than being on another team’s home court and to deny them an opportunity to have that championship. We’re going to be highly motivated and we look forward to that opportunity,” Pintar said. “After that we’ll come back Monday and it’s the one-and-done scenario so you’re playing for everything. Our guys are fired up and they’re embracing the role of the underdog. We’re going to go over there, compete and maybe at the end of the games, the shots will go for us and we can get a couple big wins.”

The Alpena JV and freshman teams were also victorious on Tuesday.

The Jv team defeated Western 68-45. Austin Prue paced the Wildcats with 17 points. Luke Young added 10 points and Andrew Fisher chipped in with eight points.

The freshman team won 53-38 and were led by a trio of players who scored double-digits.

Brady Niedzwiecki finished with 14 points, Devin Lamay added 12 points and Brady Pagels scored 10 points.

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

ALPENA (76): A. Urlaub, 3 1-2 8; R. Voltz, 3 0-0 6; J. Schmanski, 8 0-0 16; R. Rushton, 2 0-0 4; J. Duncan, 3 2-2 9; K. Stark, 7 0-0 15; C. Bright, 1 1-2 3; J. Schultz, 7 1-1 15.

BAY CITY WESTERN (41): C. Trail, 1 1-1 3; J. Fryzel, 3 1-2 9; L. Ridley, 1 2-2 4; W. Reinhardt, 1 0-0 2; L. Gillis, 6 0-0 15; L. Wiltse, 3 0-0 6; A. Norfleet, 1 0-0 2.