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GLADSTONE---It was a classic Great Northern Conference basketball game Friday night as the Menominee Maroons and Gladstone Braves battled it out in Gladstone.
The game went down to the wire before the second-ranked Maroons escaped with a 65-62 win to improve to 6-1 in GNC play. The game wasn't over until Jacob Schultz made a pair of free throws with seven seconds left, and the Maroons used up fouls-to-give to prevent the Braves from getting a decent look at a game-tying triple in the final second.
Menominee jumped to a 13-2 lead as Talan Woods made a pair of triples and Nate Komp took advantage of some nice passing to scorer a couple of baskets in the paint. But the Braves got a boost off the bench ffom 6-foot-7 sophomore Will Inghram, who drove for a one-handed slam, attacked the basket for a hoop just shy of a dunk, and knocked down a three-pointer.
Menominee senior Tanner Theuerkauf was called for three offensive fouls in the first half and had to sit on the bench for most of the second quarter. The Braves took advantage, taking a 26-22 lead with three minutes left in the half.
But just like what happened at the end of the second quarter to the Braves in a loss at Negaunee, the Maroons went on a 12-0 run to end the first half. Woods nailed two triples, including one with less than two seconds left in the half to make it a 34-26 Menominee lead heading into the locker room.
Menominee built a 44-32 lead before the Braves bounced back. Gladstone senior Owen Gereau, normally a “role player”, stepped up big with three triples and eleven points in the third quarter, and the Braves were within 49-46 entering the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was intense, with the Braves closing to within one point several times but never able to get over the hump. A three by Gereau cut the Menominee lead to 52-51, but Theuerkauf replied with a triple of his own to make it 55-51.
Gladstone got to within 58-57 after Lonnie Davey nailed a triple, but Woods found Schultz with a pinpoint pass for a lay-up to rebuild a 61-58 lead. Alex Prins passed to Davey for a lay-up in the final minute to make it 61-60, but the Braves could not get a stop and Theuerkauf made two free throws to make it a 63-60 game.
Davey scored on a lay-up with seven seconds left to bring the Braves to within one again at 63-62, but the Maroons again got the ball into a shooter's hands, and Schultz made both free throws to make it 65-62.
After a timeout, the Braves moved the ball over half court, but it took Prins four seconds to do it, and the Maroons had only one team foul in the quarter, so with 1.5 seconds left, the Braves could only try a desperation heave after another inbound pass.
For Menominee (16-3 overall, 6-1 GNC) it was another statement win as the Maroons hold a one-game lead over both Marquette and Kingsford for the GNC championship.
For Gladstone (11-9 overall, 2-5 GNC), it was a fourth heartbreaking down-to-the wire loss on the home court. This loss is added to a double overtime loss to Ishpeming (82-81), a loss to Marquette after the Braves led late (60-57), and a buzzer-beater loss to Kingsford (61-59) last week. The Braves are now on a four-game losing streak. With three of those losses coming by single digits.
Theuerkauf ended up leading Menominee in scoring with 20 points (18 in the second half) and Woods contributed 16 points. Schultz scored ten points.
Gereau led Gladstone with 21 points, and Davey added 18 points. Prins chipped in ten points and Inghram contributed nine points.
The Maroons left Gladstone after the game and drove to Mackinaw City, where the team stayed in a hotel. They will play late Saturday afternoon against Traverse City St. Francis in Traverse City.
The Braves, meanwhile, will play another top team, the Westwood Patriots, Monday night in Gladstone.
