News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Cooper Bright (33) goes up for a contested shot between a pair of Traverse City West defenders during the third quarter of a Big North Conference boys basketball game on Thursday at Alpena High School.

For almost 32 full minutes, the Alpena High boys basketball team did what it needed to in order to secure its first victory of the season against in its home opener on Thursday.

Unfortunately, almost wasn’t good enough in a 65-57 overtime loss to Big North Conference foe Traverse City West (2-0, 2-0 BNC). a

The Wildcats (0-2, 0-2 BNC) were a second away from a win, before they were unable to secure a rebound off a missed free throw and the ball was tipped around and ended up in the waiting hands of Carson Whipple.

Whipple was in the right place at the right time as he released an open layup just before the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 55 and force overtime.

“You just see West throwing up shots and the last thing you think of is the guy that’s standing there wide open underneath the basket. They took three rushed throw up shots and all of the sudden that guy is just sitting in the perfect spot and as soon as it landed there your just hoping the horn goes off. That’s just the way it goes,” Alpena coach John Pintar said. “Our guys did so many good things tonight and we played a lot better than we did Tuesday and we’re learning. We’re a super inexperienced team and it’s part of the learning process unfortunately and sometimes you lose games like this and you just have to learn from it. I was happy with a lot of things we did, we just didn’t finish the game.”

The momentum shifted in a big way as Alpena looked gassed heading into the extra period and let the game slip away as West outscored the Wildcats 10-2 in overtime.

After a first half in which Alpena moved the basketball so well, made extra passes and played unselfish, the Wildcats failed to execute in the second half and it cost them.

Alpena took a 36-28 lead into the locker room at halftime and could have been up by a bigger margin as the Wildcats put together a strong first half.

“The first half was a real high level and we had a really good half against a real good team like West,” Pintar said. “Our ball movement was very good, but not so good in the second half and we got stagnant. We did a lot of watching and some of that is just guys are unsure of what to do right now. We’re learning how to play together and understanding what everyone’s roles are.”

The Titans chipped away at the lead the entire second half while Alpena did its best to fend them off.

The Wildcats got a lift from Cooper Bright who kept Alpena’s lead intact, scoring eight of the Wildcats’ 10 points in the third quarter. Bright finished with a game-high 21 points, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Alpena held a 55-50 advantage with 40 seconds left after Austin Prue cashed in on a pair of free throws, but Brandon Whipple hit a big three on the Titans’ ensuing possession to cut the lead back to two. 

Bright was quickly fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one before West took the ball down the court to try to tie or take the lead.

Jonathon O’Connor was fouled on a shot with nine seconds left, but missed both shots and both teams battled for the rebound that eventually went to West that led to the game-tying basket at the buzzer.

“You could just see the lack of certainty late and everyone was looking around for who should have the ball or what to do or where to go,” Pintar said. “Those last two minutes we were trying to figure it out, but unfortunately we’re not there yet and I’ve told the guys we’re going to be a team that gets better as we go, but tonight was a learning experience for us and we know what we have to work on.”

Alpena’s JV team lost to West 39-27 and was led by Brady Pagel with 11 points.

Alpena’s freshman team lost 53-36. Avery Samp, Gabe Glawe and Carter Stark each scored seven points.

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

TRAVERSE CITY WEST (65): L. Robertson, 3 0-0 8; J. O’Connor, 6 5-9 17; P. O’Connor, 6 2-5 14; C. Whipple, 4 1-2 9; M. Frechette, 1 0-0 2; B. Whipple, 2 0-0 6; J. Hirschenberger, 4 1-4 9.

ALPENA (57): T.Bright, 3 0-0 8; R. Voltz, 3 0-0 6; L. Young 3 2-2 8; M. Mumford, 1 0-0 2; A. Prue, 1 3-4 5; C. Bright, 8 1-3 21; K. Hahn, 3 1-1 7.