ESCANABA — Cold shooting and Menominee’s tight man-to-man, full-court pressure defense foiled the Escanaba boys here Friday night as the Maroons handed them a 68-38 basketball loss.

The Maroons led from start to finish in this Great Northern Conference opener, taking a 15-4 lead on a five-foot jump shot by junior Darrent Butler near the end of the first quarter.

Esky (6-4) still trailed 17-8 following a 15-foot jumper by junior Taylor Asgaard early in the second.

Menominee then scored eight unanswered points, gaining a 25-8 cushion on Butler’s fast break layup with two minutes remaining in the second stanza.

Junior Owen Fields finished the second frame with a layup, but the Eskymos trailed 29-16 at halftime.

“Their defense tries to speed you up and can force you to take shots you don’t want,” Esky coach Tom Gereau said. “We got a lot of shots off, but the ball just didn’t go in. That’s what Menominee does. They want to speed you up.”

Halfway through the third quarter, senior Javon Stevenson grabbed the ball out of scramble and fired a pass from half-court to classmate Adam Prey, who converted a layup. Esky, however, continued to trail 40-27.

A free throw by sophomore Hayven Sandoval-Nolde trimmed Esky’s defense to 12 points.

The Maroons (5-4) then finished the third quarter with a 10-4 run, extending their advantage to 50-31 on a 20-foot jumper from the right wing by junior Tanner Theuerkauf.

Esky scored first in the fourth before Menominee put the game out of reach on Theuerkauf’s one-handed dunk on a fast break with less than five minutes left to play.

Menominee turned the ball nine times, but only once in the second half.

“We took better care of the ball tonight,” Maroons’ coach Sam Larson said. “I thought our tempo got better in the second half. Our pace wasn’t as fast as we liked in the first half. It seemed like they got some timely baskets. I think our pressure took them out of their flow a little. When you hold a team to 38 points, you’re probably going to win a ball game. We hit a couple 3s at big moments. We’re becoming more multi-dimensioned.”

Sophomore Dylan Beal, who drained five 3-point shots, led the Maroons with 19 points. Theuerkauf added 16 and junior Jacob Schultz had 10.

Fields scored 11 for the Eskymos, who finished with 18 turnovers.

“Our guys ran with them, but we were turning the ball over and weren’t in the right position for them to turn it over,” Gereau said. “I thought we did a decent job on the boards and got some stops, only we couldn’t capitalize on our opportunities. We need to work on small details. Our help defense has to step up. We have a very challenging week ahead of us. It’s going to be a gauntlet all the way through. There’s a lot of good teams out there.”

The Eskymos visit Marquette tonight at 7, host Iron Mountain Wednesday and travel to Crystal Falls Forest Park Thursday. Menominee hosts Marinette Tuesday.

Box score

Menominee 15 14 19 18 — 68

Escanaba 4 12 15 7 — 38

Menominee — Beal 19, Schultz 10, Theuerkauf 16, Bell 3, Paasch 8, Butler 6, Jurkiewicz 2, L. Daigneau 2, B. Daigneau 2. FT: 6-14; F: 15; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Beal 5, Theuerkauf 2, Schultz, Bell, Paasch.

Escanaba — Stevenson 7, Prey 2, Fields 11, Morgan 5, Asgaard 8, Sandoval-Nolde 5. FT: 6-17; F: 16; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Fields 3, Sandoval-Nolde.