Negaunee Rolls Past Gladstone To Stay Undefeated

NEGAUNEE---The Negaunee Miners continue to show why they're the top-ranked basketball team in the Upper Peninsula, and favorites to make a long playoff run.

The Miners put on a clinic Tuesday night, beating the Gladstone Braves, 71-41, at the Lakeview Memorial Gym. Trent Bell had 19 points and Jay Lori added 18 for Negaunee.

"A thank you to (Negaunee) Coach (Dan) Watterman," Gladstone Coach Clayton Castor said. "I think if he had wanted to beat us by 50, he could've beat us by 50. I appreciate him showing us a little bit of mercy. I thought through the first quarter-and-a-half, it was a seven or eight point ballgame. Ben Schwalbach carried us for quite a while, but we struggled to get some offense."

Indeed, Schwalbach was a bright spot for the Braves, nailing five three-point baskets for 15 points. His two long shots in the first quarter were Gladstone's only points in the quarter as Negaunee built a 15-6 lead.

The Miners continued to do whatever they wanted to do, scoring both inside and outside, and collecting nearly every loose ball rebound. Negaunee scored 22 points in the second quarter to lead the Braves, 37-16, at halftime, and it only got worse from there. At one point, Negaunee had made 22 of the 29 shots it took from the field (75.8%).

Lori is the most talked-about player on the Negaunee team, and he was good, scoring both inside and out. But Bell was also tough. The lanky, long-armed 6-foot-5 Bell scored seven points in the second quarter and was a monster on the boards for Negaunee.

"Coming in, our goal tonight was to give them our best shot," Castor said. "And to have a 100-percent effort. And I think we had a 100-percent effort. I thought for the first quarter and a half, we gave them our best shot. But like I told the kids in the locker room, we're young."

"I don't want them to walk out of this gym with their heads down. I want them walking out of this gym thinking 'that could be us next year'."

Besides Schwalbach's 15 points, Joe Gibbs had eight points (including a pair of three's) for Gladstone, and Hunter Botruff sank a couple of three-pointers for six points.
Negaunee improved to 16-0 on the season while Gladstone's record fell to 8-7.

The junior varsity game went to the wire...and then some...as Gladstone rallied from 14 points down to post a 71-63 overtime victory. Rudy Peterson scored 35 points for the JV Braves, including three three-pointers in the final minutes. After Negaunee's Jacob Ennett made a desperation three to force overtime, Peterson made eight straight free throws to seal the OT victory. Negaunee won the freshman game, 39-32.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to hear a Rudy Peterson interview, and to see photos and videos taken by Mike Dagenais.