Munising came out strong in their home boys basketball contest with Powers North Central on Friday. The Mustangs carried their good play in the first quarter through the rest of the night, and claimed a 60-48 victory.
“We started out strong against North Central, got some turnovers that led to easy baskets,” head coach Terry Kienitz said. “Good first quarter, leading 23-10. We had good balanced scoring.”
In that first quarter, Trevor Nolan buried a pair of threes and had 11 points, with Jack Dusseult putting in nine points. Dusseault had seven more points in the second and it was a 25-18 lead at the half.
In the third, Nolan Connaughton and T. Nolan hit threes, making it a 35-29 lead entering the fourth.
In the final stanza they pulled away, getting eight points from Dusseault and six by Connaughton In all, Dusseault had 26 points to lead all scorers. Connaughton put in a career high 16 points, T. Nolan added 15, Carson Kienitz scored two and adding one was Tyler Nelson.
“Jack had a big game, scoring and rebounding,” Kienitz said. “Carson and Trevor handled the ball really well and had some great assists. Connaughton had a great game with his career high in points.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 6, Munising suffered a setback at Escanaba, 52-48.
“Escanaba was a big, physical team with a lot of ball pressure,” Kienitz said. “I thought we played really well getting through all the pressure. We had the lead the whole game until the fourth quarter. We kinda went cold and got outscored 13-7 in the fourth. Credit Esky they made some big shots and created some turnovers to get them the lead.”
Munising led 15-8 after one, and was behind just 29-27 at the half. They regained a slim 41-39 lead entering the fourth, but couldn’t hold on from there.
The Mustangs had T. Nolan finish with 21 points, Dusseult had 15 points, Nelson and Kienitz had five points each and Connaughton added two points.
Munising (15-4 overall) hosted Rapid River on Tuesday, had a home contest with Brimley on Thursday and heads to Powers North Central on Tuesday.
