Emeralds beat Braves at buzzer

By Dennis Grall - dgrall@dailypress.net
By Dennis Grall

dgrall@dailypress.net



GLADSTONE — First Cody Kangas came up with a big defensive play to save the game here Thursday night.

Then the Manistique senior won the game with a 3-point basket at the buzzer as the Emeralds nudged Gladstone 66-63 in a non-conference boys basketball regular season finale that lasted two overtimes.

“I didn’t think I was going to get the ball,” said Kangas, who was stationed on the left wing and was all alone when he received the pass from Jared Turan. “I was ready to go get the rebound if anything.”

Once he saw the ball arriving, Kangas said “I figured this is it. I didn’t want to go three overtimes. Two was enough.”

Gladstone coach Dale Hongisto said “that was too good of a look for them.”

The shot came after a frenetic finish in which the Braves first held the ball the entire four minutes. Kangas blocked Kyle Jensen’s layup attempt with 6.4 seconds left, then Scott Giles stole the rushed in-bound pass by the Braves.

“That was my call,” Hongisto said of not taking a timeout as the play was breaking down. “I had one timeout left, but I thought I saw someone getting open. The bottom line is we just didn’t get it done there.”

As the Emeralds raced upcourt, Josh Mickelson was calling a timeout well behind the ball. Manistique then in-bounded from mid-court with 3.2 seconds left.

“We had enough time. Three seconds is a long time,” said Manistique coach Ed Marietti. “We had it set up for three-four different options and we ended up getting a decent shot. It’s the only one he made all night.”

Marietti was not worried about the final play, noting “it was a no-lose option. If we miss, we get another overtime.”

It also didn’t bother him that Gladstone stalled out the O.T., noting “we got a little rest and we tried to stop them at the end. Then we did a nice job denying on the in-bound.”

The winning shot was only part of the dramatics down the stretch.

First Gladstone had to score the final six points of regulation just to force overtime. It took steals by Andy Cretens and Jensen and a blocked shot by Cretens to set up those points, with Cretens tying the game with two free throws with 34.6 seconds left.

Cretens then missed the potential game-winner from 15 feet on the right side with 2.5 seconds left, after Mike Coyne deflected a Manistique pass to give the Braves another chance.

“I thought he had a good look,” said Hongisto. “We put ourselves in position to win the game but unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”

The first O.T. had an even more incredible finish. Josh Mickelson sent the Emeralds ahead 63-61 with a nifty reverse layup with 7.1 seconds left, but that was trumped by Braves.

Coyne heaved a desperation air ball just across mid-court that landed in teammate Andy Lauscher’s arms. He promptly slipped under the basket for a reverse layup, with the buzzer sounding before the ball even skipped off the backboard and into the net.

Manistique scored the opening five points of that overtime before Lauscher hit a triple and a basket off an in-bound play.

The game was close all the way, with neither team getting control.

Turan had 15 of his career-high 19 points in the second half. The Emeralds ran off eight points midway through the third quarter for a 43-40 lead and Turan had six points in the fourth quarter as the Emeralds opened a 56-50 lead with 2:37 left.

“He has been asked to do a little bit more,” Marietti said of the junior forward. “He gives us a nice person shooting the ball and he attacks the basket well.”

Mickelson also had 19 points for the Emeralds, who hit 24-of-60 field goals and had 36 rebounds.

Cretens continued his strong season by scoring 20 points while Lauscher, who received extensive attention in a variety of Manistique zones, added 17. The Braves, who had a solid game from senior Nik Ahola, hit 22-of-65 shots and had 24 rebounds.

The Emeralds used a triangle-and-two for a good stretch, with Marietti noting “he (Hongisto) used to do it to me. I wanted to see how his offense ran against it.”

It was the seventh straight win for the Emeralds, who face St. Ignace Wednesday in a Class C district game in Rudyard.

The Braves (12-8) face Escanaba Wednesday in a Class B district game in Kingsford.

Gladstone won the jayvee (52-51) and frosh (77-34) games.