Gladstone Overcomes Strong Big Bay deNoc Effort

Click HERE to see all of the U.P.'s boys basketball scores/schedules.

GLADSTONE---The next two times the Gladstone Braves boys basketball team hits the floor, it will be against two Great Northern Conference rivals Marquette and Escanaba....two schools with many more students than the Gladstone High School.

But Thursday night, the Braves had their hands full with the Big Bay deNoc Black Bears, which has one of the smallest school populations in all of Michigan. Basketball, however, is a five-on-five game, and the Black Bears made the trip from Garden Corners fully expecting to win the game. And, for a while there, it looked like they might.

Gladstone's Jared Vuksan (50) battles Big Bay's Loren Swayer (24) in the paint.

Big Bay had the lead at halftime, but Gladstone went on a 19-4 run in the third quarter to build a lead, and then the Braves held off another challenge to post a 73-61 win.

"We were lazy," Gladstone Coach Phil Griebel said. "Half of our guys were playing the 'run and jump' (defense) and half weren't.

"We came out flat. I told them that Big Bay was not going to give them anything and I don't know if they believed me or not. But they did when we walked in at halftime down by one."

Black Bears Coach Pat Groleau was not surprised to see his team play so well against a big school.

"I have a good bunch of kids," Groleau said. "We have 25 kids out for basketball at Big Bay this year. They love the game."

The Black Bears made an incredible 20 of 22 free throws in the first half of the game, and were not afraid to play at the high tempo that the Braves also wanted to play at. Big Bay led, 21-15, after the first quarter and led 37-36 at halftime.

Big Bay's Cole Potvin scores and goes to the line.

In that first half, Black Bears guard Cole Potvin was on fire. He scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first 16 minutes, and Potvin went to the free throw line 11 times. He made all eleven of his foul shots.

"Our coach makes us practice them a lot," Potvin laughed. "It obviously shows in the outcome. I normally don't go to the line that much, but I felt confident and driving more, and they kept fouling me."

Gladstone's Jalen Stenson (32) guards Big Bay's Nathan Dalgord (3).

Bobby Holmberg made all four of his foul shots in the first half, and Zach Pomeroy, who had 18 points in the game, sank a "three" to go along with his 2-for-2 at the line.

That kind of foul shooting impressed Braves junior Riley Ballard.

"Oh, my, God, they were 'money', the whole time," Ballard said.

So, has he, Ballard, ever shot free throws like that?

"Not even close," Ballard laughed.

Griebel was impressed, but not very happy.

"I was getting a little frustrated because we kept fouling them. We were so slow and were playing with our hands and not our feet," Griebel said. "We let them come up the floor, then we'd get lazy and reach in. We put them on the line and they made them."

Jared Vuksan cleans up the garbage underneath.

The Braves, though, were still down by just one point despite the Black Bear success. Jared Vuksan was hard for Big Bay to handle. The 6-1 senior scored 11 points in the first half, and ended up with 18 overall.

But Vuksan was hampered by foul trouble.

Michael Cretens hit a couple of three pointers in that first half, and Riley Ballard had seven points in the second quarter and provided a spark to the sluggish offense.

Junior Riley Ballard (4) goes to the hole.

"Riley's energy was key," Griebel said. "We were flat when he came in, and I could tell the difference. And that's why he stayed out there (in the second half)."

"He told me to step it up and play tight D," Riley Ballard said. "They've got some good guards. And they're just a tough team to stop offensively."

Things changed in the second half as the Braves came out strong after getting a "talking to" at halftime. Blake Ballard scored five straight points to give Gladstone a 47-41 lead three minutes into the third quarter. Then Ballard had a steal and a hoop a minute later, and Riley Ballard had another basket off of a steal.

It was 55-41, and the Braves were on a 19-4 run.

"Gladstone made adjustments at halftime, and we didn't adjust quick enough," Groleau said. "They went into a different jump press, and we did'nt adjust. That's my fault."

Holmberg+Pomeroy=Two points for Big Bay deNoc.

But those kids from that little school in the Garden Peninsula did not give up. The Black Bears responded with a 10-0 run of their own. First, it was sophomore Tyler Demars. Then, Potvin with the pretty driving layup. Then, Pomeroy scored with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter to make it 55-51.

"Zach left it out on the floor," Groleau said. "He played as hard as he could. I couldn't ask for any more. He's working, he's improving. I'm looking for big things."

Gladstone's Jared Hunter Thursday night.

But Blake Ballard hit a clutch three-pointer after the Black Bears missed on a chance to cut the lead to two. Vuksan followed with a hoop, and it was 60-51. When Cretens nailed his third "three" of the game, the Braves were back ahead, 65-53, and that was it.

It was, however, a hard-fought game.

"It was a good one," Potvin said. "We made it close. I thought we built enough to take them down, but we weren't able to execute it."

And from Gladstone's prespective?

"We talked at halftime about how we needed to play defense, and play hard (in the second half)," Griebel said. "The back side of our press wasn't there in the first half, but in the second half they got some steals and tips. That was what we wanted."

Gladstone's Dave Dykowski With the Takedown!

Vuksan and Cretens both had 18 points to lead Gladstone, while Blake Ballard had 15 points and Riley Ballard chipped in ten points.

For Big Bay, Potvin had 19 points and Pomeroy added 18. Holmberg scored nine points.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos from the game, and to listen to radio replays and interviews. Thanks to Eric Thompson and Mike Dagenais for the photos and videos!

Gladstone's Blake Ballard goes up for a shot during Thursday night's game against Big Bay.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/6	7:15 PM	Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	73 - 61 (W)	1-0

12/11	7:15 PM	Marquette Redmen	51 - 58 (L)	1-1

12/14	7:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	78 - 66 (W)	2-1

12/18	7:15 PM	Mid Peninsula Wolverines	68 - 61 (W)	3-1

12/28	6:15 PM	at St. Ignace Saints	82 - 67 (W)	4-1

1/3	7:15 PM	at Mid Peninsula Wolverines	61 - 67 (L)	4-2

1/7	7:30 PM	at Westwood Patriots	66 - 56 (W)	5-2

1/11	7:15 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	34 - 64 (L)	5-3

1/15	7:15 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	60 - 55 (W)	6-3

1/18	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	63 - 70 (L)	6-4

1/23	7:30 PM	at Ishpeming Hematites	62 - 76 (L)	6-5

1/26	3:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	66 - 67 (L)	6-6

2/5	7:20 PM	at Marquette Redmen	43 - 53 (L)	6-7

2/8	8:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	57 - 62 (L)	6-8

2/12	7:15 PM	Negaunee Miners	46 - 79 (L)	6-9

2/15	7:15 PM	Menominee Maroons	55 - 65 (L)	6-10

2/18	7:30 PM	at Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	81 - 55 (W)	7-10

2/22	7:15 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	48 - 57 (L)	7-11

2/26	7:30 PM	at Manistique Emeralds	69 - 54 (W)	8-11

3/4	6:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	56 - 53 (W)	9-11

3/6	7:00 PM	Menominee Maroons	64 - 61 (W)	10-11

3/11	8:00 PM	at Grayling Vikings	68 - 73 (L)	10-12