02/11/15 West Ishpeming, Michigan – The Negaunee Miners Boys Basketball team traveled to West Ishpeming tonight to face the Westwood Patriots. Carl Leander Johnson, the voice of the Negaunee Miners and Jesse Anderson were there to bring you all the exciting rivalry week action on Sunny.FM.
Dre Tuominen was a big story coming into this game as this was his first game back in his old stomping grounds. While it would take a little while, nearly two minutes, he would put the Miners on the board first with a nice jump shot inside the arc. Negaunee usually doesn’t have the advantage in the ‘height’ column, but tonight was an exception. They made things very difficult on the perimeter for the Patriots’ guards and the bigs were great as the second line of defense. Negaunee’s Dylan Tasson forced a lot of difficult shots by the Patriots who were trying to drive into the lane. After a Rob Loy three-pointer and Jay Lori bucket down low, the Miners led 7-0. The defense continued to lock down Luke Gray, Trevor Burke, and Mitchell Messing on the perimeter, and Westwood’s offense couldn’t get anything going in the first and were shut out after one.
The Miners were first to score in the second quarter as well and increased the lead 9-0. After going nearly ten minutes without a single point, the Patriots made their way to the free-throw line and hit two free-throws to make it just a seven point game. The Negaunee offense would do well from that point on. Despite missing some layups and a wide-open dunk attempt by Jay Lori (sorry Jay, it was funny), the Miners offense was able to finish out the half on a 12-2 run, with the Patriots failing to make a single field goal in the half. Rob Loy was the aggressor for the Miners and helped build that lead along with a few nice assists from Dre Tuominen, leading Negaunee to a 21-4 halftime lead!
Westwood would be the first to score in the second half with their first field goal of the night, a Trevor Burke mid-range jumper, to trail 21-6. Jay Lori decided it was his time during the third, and was a beast. He pulled down three offensive rebounds, used his strong footwork and frame to bully the Patriots down low and really helped the Miners seal the game early on and not give their opponent a chance to come back. While the Patriots nearly tripled their first half output, they still struggled offensively, going into the final frame down 37-11. After Westwood’s first points in the game, the Miners outscored them 28-9 in about 12 minutes of play.
With the game in hand the Miners used a few different combinations on the floor, giving some guys a chance to pick up a few minutes down the stretch. Logan Streeter in particular nabbed a few rebounds and scored four in the fourth to finish the game with six points. The Patriots would finish the game shooting 5/42 in the process and The Negaunee Miners would pick up their tenth win on the year and improve to 10-3, and net their sixth conference victory and are now just one game out of first place. They’ll get the chance to pick up another this Friday vs. ISHPEMING.
The Negaunee Miners defeated the Westwood Patriots (44-20) on Sunny.FM!
Negaunee was led tonight by senior wing-man Rob Loy, whose aggressive play led to ten points and five rebounds. In his return to Westwood, Dre Tuominen finished with 9pts, 9reb, 3assts, and 4stls finishing with another good game. Dylan Tasson also chipped in eight points, six rebounds, and two nice blocks.
The Negaunee Miners Girls Basketball team will be at home to host the Iron Mountain Mountaineers tomorrow night February 12th, 2015. Join Carl Leander Johnson, the voice of the Negaunee Miners and Jesse Anderson for the exciting MPC battle. The Honor Credit Union Pre-game will start around 7:15pm, and the game will follow at 7:30pm on Sunny.FM.
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