Boys hoops roundup: GSM wins OT thriller, JoBurg gets first win, GHS goes 1-2

GAYLORD ― All three area boys basketball teams had multiple games this week, with each set following a different storyline.

For Gaylord St. Mary's, the boys had two more opportunities to extend their win double-digit win streak, wrapping the week with a battle for the top spot in the Ski Valley standings with Inland Lakes.

Meanwhile, the Johannesburg-Lewiston boys had three games, including their best opportunity to pick up their first win of the season in a week-wrapping matchup with Fife Lake Forest Area.

Finally, the Gaylord boys were on the road all week, playing three more games away from home including a weekend tournament up in the UP.

See how the week played out for area teams.

GSM picks up two more wins, beats Inland Lakes in OT thriller

No team has been as hot as the Gaylord St. Mary's boys have been throughout the first two months of the basketball season.

After losing their opening night matchup with Hillman, the Snowbirds have rolled through their schedule, entering the week on a 10-game winning streak while outscoring opponents 686-507 over that period.

With a game with Ellsworth on Monday and a top-of-the-standings matchup with Inland Lakes on Friday, the Snowbirds had a great opportunity to continue their great play and take firm control of the conference as they headed into February.

Things started exactly the right way, putting together an offensive masterpiece on Monday night as three separate players finished with 20+ points in the 85-66 victory over Ellsworth.

Sophomore Daniel Jacobson led the team in scoring for the second-straight game, finishing with a season-high 28 points. Seniors Gavin Bebble and Brody Jeffers both had 24 points apiece, helping the Snowbirds coast to their 11th straight victory.

That set up the matchup between them and Inland Lakes on Friday, a team that came in at 8-4 overall, 6-1 in the conference and appearing as one of the Snowbirds' top competitors for the Ski Valley title down the stretch.

The game turned out to be as advertised, with two high-powered offenses needing an extra period to decide things, but it was a Brody Jeffers free-throw that sealed a 72-71 overtime victory for GSM, keeping the Snowbirds undefeated in the conference and their winning streak alive.

It was a true heavyweight matchup, but St. Mary's held a slight advantage throughout, leading by four points after each of the first three quarters. However, the final two minutes provided all the fireworks a highly contested, conference game is bound to provide.

On one end, a shooting foul on Gaylord St. Mary's was compounded by a technical foul, giving the Bulldogs four free throws and the ball. After hitting three of four at the line, Inland Lakes trailed by just two points as they looked to inbound for a chance to tie.

However, tough defense from GSM forced an Inland Lakes turnover, which they compounded with a technical foul of their own. St. Mary's converted that into a three-point lead with just over a minute remaining.

That three-point lead held until a late possession for Inland Lakes, and that's when senior Kaden Hansel hit a contested, stepback 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining to tie the game, eventually sending it to overtime.

In the final eight seconds of OT, Hansel sank two free throws to tie the game back up at 71 apiece, but that's when Brody Jeffers took the game into his own hands, taking the inbound pass coast-to-coast and forcing Inland Lakes to foul him on the shot and give him two free throws for the lead. He split the pair, but the one-point lead was all they needed as they survived the buzzer-beater attempt to escape with a one-point victory.

Jeffers had 26 points on the night, just behind fellow senior Gavin Bebble with a team-high 27. Hansel led all scorers with 35 points.

At 12-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference, the Snowbirds have control of their destiny headed into February.

Fox leads JoBurg to first win

The winter season brought a similarly slow start for the JoBurg boys athletes that the fall did.

However, the football team found its way out of its losing streak; Friday, with December gone and January nearly over, it was the boys basketball team's turn.

After a loss to Cheboygan on Monday and hanging tough and falling short with Onaway on Wednesday, the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals got the matchup they wanted, hosting a similarly built opponent in Fife Lake Forest Area to wrap the week.

They took full advantage of the opportunity.

Senior guard Thomas Fox had himself quite the night, pouring game-high 35 points as JoBurg picked up its first win of the season in a 72-51 victory.

Fox had 18 points in the first quarter alone, shooting perfect 8-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. As the game continued, he continued to be the best option, coming back in during the fourth quarter to help quell a late burst from Forest Area and put the finishing touches on the 21-point victory.

The Cardinals now sit at 1-7 in conference play, with games scheduled this week against Inland Lakes and Mancelona.

GHS splits results in UP trip

The Blue Devils are hoping to get back to their home court sooner rather than later.

Not that things have gone bad to this point in their road trip, sitting at 3-2 five games into a six-game, two week stretch of road games. However, after going 1-2 this week and traveling all the way up north to St. Ignace over the weekend, Gaylord will certainly welcome a game back in Jim Mongeau Gymnasium later this week.

After starting the week on the wrong side of a 49-25 loss to Cadillac, the Gaylord boys looked to bounce back in the St. Ignace BC Pizza Classic over the weekend hosted by St. Ignace LaSalle.

Unfortunately, the first game on Friday turned out to be a tough matchup as they fell to Marquette 69-58.

Like many games this year, junior Luke Gelow led the team in scoring with 23 points, while Aidan Locker added another 12 points.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, they were able to bounce back on Saturday and salvage the UP trip with a win, beating Lake City 47-36 in the consolation game to finish the tournament 1-1.

Gelow was sidelined for the final game, meaning others needed to step up, and they did. Locker led the way with 14 points, while Luke Enders had 11 points, helping the Blue Devils on their way to their seventh win of the season.

With back-to-back double-digit scoring games, Locker was the Blue Devils' lone representative on the All-Tournament team.

Now at 7-6 overall, the Gaylord boys have one more road game (Tuesday, January 31 at Boyne City) before they host their rivals from Petoskey on Friday, February 3 in a game with huge implications in the Big North.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boys hoops roundup: GSM wins OT thriller, JoBurg gets first win, GHS goes 1-2