Ciick the thumbnails to see photos and video highlights, and click the AUDIO buttons to hear post game comments from Escanaba senior Lenny Peacock, Eskymo Coach Jake Berlinski, and Norway Coach Jeff Gallino.
ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School boys basketball team won its home opener Monday night, turning back the Norway Knights, 50-36, in a defensive battle.
It was the first varsity win for new head coach Jake Berlinksi, who became the third EHS head coach in three seasons.
Eskymo senior Lenny Peacock returned to the court after missing most of his junior season to concentrate on his best sport, baseball. Peacock says he wanted to play hoops again this season after Berlinski was hired, and he led the Eskymos with 14 points in the win.
"I've had a lot of fun with Coach Berlinski," Peacock said. "It's a great group of guys that we have here. It's fun showing up each and every day to practice. So, I'm really excited to be back."
Berlinski smiled after his team won the first game under his command, and did it with a lot of defense. But he thanked others for the moment.
"It's easy when you've got the best people around you," Berlinski said. "I've got the best assistants in the U.P right now. I'll take my staff (Ryan Robinette, Kirk Schwalbach, David Romps) over anybody else's. My guys are great. They've supported me the whiole way around. I wouldn't do it without them.."
Hayven Sandoval-Nolde and Taylor Asgaard both scored ten points for the Eskymos, who made up for their season-opening loss to Negaunee with this win.
Norway (0-2) got eleven points from Owen Baij on three triples and a pair of free throws.
"We struggled to get anything going offensively," Norway Coach Jeff Gallino said. "Their ball pressure kind of effected us and changed our game a little bit. We never really got anything going offensively. We talked at halftime that we wanted to play enthusiastically, and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half."
The Eskymos were proud of their defensive effort, holding Norway to just 36 points.
"We did really good on defense tonight," Peacock said. "We had a great week of practice. We stacked up five days of harping on each other, getting loud and physical on each other. Give Coach Berlisnki credit for that, and give each and every one of our guys credit for that for working as a unit, and just as one."
"We spent a week of practice time just focusing on defense, defense, defense," Berlinski said. "Just getting everybody on the same page. Practice makes perfect, apparently, because we looked pretty good tonight."
