OVERTIME WINNER! Escanaba Stops Menominee

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School boys basketball team lost a 12-point lead in the second half, but bounced back to beat the Menominee Maroons, 72-65, in a highly-entertaining Great Northern Conference game Monday night in Escanaba.

Tyler Willette scored 27 points and Ryan Robinette added 24 for the Eskymos, while sophomore Jared Nash scored ten points, including four huge free throws in overtime.

Menominee had an 11-5 lead in the first quarter before the Eskymos scored ten straight points, six of them by Robinette.

The game went back-and-forth throughout the first half, with Escanaba getting a buzzer-beating three-pointer from C.J. Barron to lead, 32-26.

In the third quarter, Escanaba scored the first six points to take its biggest lead at 38-26.

But the Maroons battled back, with senior Marcus McKinney getting his game going in the late part of the fourth quarter.

He gave his team a 47-46 lead midway through the quarter, and then after Escanaba took a 56-52 lead in the final minute, McKinney scored a basket and foul shot to cut it to 56-55. Robinette sank a pair of free throws to give Escanaba a three-point lead, but McKinney drained a three-pointer with 15 seconds left to force overtime.

In OT, Tanner Mathias hit a pair of jumpers to put his team ahead, 65-62.

But Nash made a jumper of his own, and sank a pair of free throws.

Then after the Maroons missed two free throws, Barron came down court and buried a jumper with 35 seconds left, making it 66-65.

The Maroons missed at the other end, and Nash was fouled with 19 seconds left. The sophomore, little brother of former Eskymo and Oakland University star Olivia Nash, nailed two more three throws to give Escanaba a 68-65 lead.

Menominee was still alive, but Robinette made a huge steal, and then sank two free throws to make it 70-65. And after a Menominee miss, Robinette was fouled again, and made two more free throws to make it a 72-65 final. The Eskymos were lights out from the free throw line, hitting their final ten charity shots in the fourth and OT periods.

Escanaba improved to 4-4 on the season, 1-2 in the Great Northern Conference. The Maroons fell to 1-5 overall, 0-1 in the GNC. McKinney and Mathias both scored 19 points for Menominee. Hunter Hass added 13 points for the Maroons.

Escanaba is off until next Tuesday, Jan. 17, with a game against Westwood.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and video highlights from the game.