03/03/15 Negaunee, Michigan – The Negaunee Miners Boys Basketball team hosted the Iron Mountain Mountaineers tonight, in a de facto MPC Championship game. Carl Leander Johnson, the voice of the Negaunee Miners and Jesse Anderson were there to bring all the nail biting action on Sunny.FM. Not only was a potential MPC Title on the line, this was also going to dictate who would take the top spot in the UPSSA ABC polls, as the Miners came in at #2, and Harvey Johnson’s Mountaineers coming in atop the ranks.
Iron Mountain won the opening tip, but failed to take advantage of the game’s first possession. On the other end, the Miners had little success. Both teams looked a little vamped up for the game and missed some ugly shots, but it would be the Miners who would knock down the first bucket of the game on a Dylan Tasson three-pointer, nearly three minutes into the game! Iron Mountain would respond with a few offensive put-backs from Carson Wonders to take a 4-3 lead a couple minutes later. After two three pointers from Kyle Johnson & Tanner Huotari of Iron Mountain, the Miners trailed the Moutnaineers 10-4. In what would prove a game of runs, the Miners ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to tie it up at 10 going into the second quarter.
The Mountaineers opened the second quarter with two straight threes from Huotari & Johnson to take a 16-10 lead, but Dylan Tasson decided that this would be an opportune time to have a career night and, along with point guard Dre Tuominen, brought the Miners on an 8-0 run to put the Miners up 18-16. Another Mountaineer run of threes, put them up 25-18, but the Miners would answer back with a Tasson three and a nice fading post move to push the Miners to the lead going into halftime up 26-25.
Negaunee started the third quarter in hyper drive, scoring and defending with ease. Sophomore Trent Bell poked a few Mountaineer passes away as the Miners increased their lead to as much as 10 throughout, but another set of threes brought the game back within five for the Mountaineers. Jay Lori, despite scoring just two points through six quarters in this season’s series, woke up and knocked down a couple key buckets to keep the Mountaineers at bay. Going into the final frame, the Miners were rolling up 12; 45-33. In the third, they outscored the Mountaineers 19-8… scoring more points than they did in the entire game in Iron Mountain earlier this season.
The Miners started the fourth quarter with a Dre Tuominen jumper to further their lead to 47-33 against the Mountaineers. They’d cruise the rest of the way and the Negaunee Miners were on fire to take a 52-35 lead against the Iron Mountain Mountaineers with three minutes left in the game. The Miners could not be stopped tonight and easily defeated the Iron Mountain Mountaineers 66-49 on Sunny.FM.
The Negaunee Miners defeated the Iron Mountain Mountaineers (66-49) on Sunny.FM.
The boys were led by Dylan Tasson, who finished with a career high 23 points and 8 rebounds. Dre Tuominen chipped in 19 points and Jay Lori finished with 12. Despite not registering a point in the first half, Rob Loy was able to finish with 8 as well. With the win, the Miners will look to claim an outright MPC Championship on Thursday at home against Gwinn! Good luck boys!
The Negaunee Miners Girls Basketball team travel to Gwinn, Michigan tomorrow March 4th, 2015 to face the Manistique Emeralds, in the first round of district playoffs. Join Carl Leander Johnson, the voice of the Negaunee Miners and Jesse Anderson for all the exciting action. The Honor Credit Union Pre-game Show will start around 5:30pm and the game will follow at 6:00pm on Sunny.FM
Sunny.FM. The official home of the Negaunee Miners since 1998!
