Courtesy Photo/Ben Murphy Alcona’s DJ Howe attempts to flip the ball in the net during Tuesday’s home loss to Tawas.

LINCOLN–Some nights, the formula to winning a game is a rather simple one. Tuesday was a perfect example of just that, as the Tawas boys basketball team hit the shots it needed, handing host Alcona a 50-41 non-conference setback.

“Tawas hit some pretty good shots and they shot the ball better from the perimeter than we did,” Alcona coach Ryan Bilbey said. “The story of the game is they hit some key shots in key times and we didn’t and that is tough to overcome.”

Alcona (6-6) was unable to cash in on a stellar offensive performance by DJ Howe.

Howe, who finished with a game-high 23 points, hit three treys and netted 13 points in the opening quarter, as the Tigers controlled play early on, with a 17-12 lead after one.

“DJ is maturing every game and is learning to get a little more aggressive and understand what he can do and he has done that for a couple games in a row now where he has caught fire in the first quarter,” Bilbey said. “That helps get some momentum going, but we have to be able to sustain that and we can’t be a one man show. We have to be balanced and we struggled with that a little bit tonight.”

The Braves (4-6) opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run to claim a 21-19 lead, though the Tigers knotted things at 21-all moments later, when Howe accepted an in-bounds pass at the right elbow and swished the ball home.

Tawas’ Nick Maynard hit a three pointer and a mid-range jumper to set his team up with a 26-21 lead late in the half, but Zach Stephenson helped the Tigers draw within 26-25 by the break thanks to steals and fast break lay-ins on back-to-back trips down the court.

“We gave up a few transition run outs, but they weren’t off rebounds, they were off of turnovers and that just comes down to us having to take better care of the ball,” Tawas coach Todd Kaems said. “If we do a better job of that I think we probably win by 20, but because we had turnovers they had some runouts and we gave up some transition buckets and we struggled with them.”

Howe kicked off the scoring in the third quarter with his fourth three pointer of the night. The bucket gave the Tigers a 28-26 lead, but Tawas went ahead for good moments later, when Ethan Hedglin converted an and-one play and Granite Barringer sent home a three pointer of his own from the left side of the court.

The Braves led 39-31 entering the fourth and took its biggest lead of the night at 46-35 on a Gabe Kaniszewski drive through the lane with about four minutes left to play.

The Tigers made things interesting late however, as a pair of baskets by Stephenson and another by Jacob Sytek allowed Alcona to pull within 46-41 with 1:40 to play. A Tawas turnover gave the Tigers a chance to carve further into their deficit, but a three pointer by Howe was off the mark, sending the ball back into the hands of the Braves.

Tawas was a perfect four-of-four from the line in the final 50 seconds to salt away the win.

Offensively for the Braves, Gavin Dukaj led the way with 12 points, Maynard had 11 and Vinnie Frank put in 10.

To go along with Howe’s 23 points, the Tigers had Stephenson finished with 12, Sytek netted four and Nick Rassmussen added two.

Alcona returns to action on Thursday, when it hosts Alpena.

“I have watched a little bit of film on them and they have some pretty big kids, they have some trees down low,” Bilbey said. “That will be a challenge for us as well as containing their guards. I think we match up well with them, I really do. As long as we shoot the ball better than we did tonight, we will be in good shape.”