Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton’s Luke Hill tries to drive past Marquette’s Kyler Sager on Tuesday at the Houghton High School gym.

HOUGHTON- It was a shootout at the Houghton High School gym Tuesday night. The only problem was it wasn’t the host Gremlins who were hitting their target. It was rather the Marquette Sentinels who had the bullseye precision. The Sentinels poured in 18 three-pointers-more than half their points- in their 98-50 over the Gremlins.

Gremlins’ coach Jared Lawson noted that this year’s Marquette squad is one of the best that he has seen take to the ourt since his days as a player and since his many years of coaching in the UP. Blame it on size and athleticism.

“Hats off to Marquette. They shot the lights out. They are 11 deep, and it is tough to withstand that,” he said. “But, this was not a 48-point loss. I am proud of our guys. They worked hard. We played them well.”

The first two quarters were the Gremlins best as the were down 19-26 after one and 35-42 at half. However in the second two quarters, the Sentinels outscored their opponent 56-15.

They opened the third with eight unanswered points and that quickly became a 25-point lead with minutes remaining in the quarter.

The Sentinels had five players in double figures. Kyle Sager led the scoring with 21 points. Fifteen of those came from beyond the three-point arc. Ford Richardson followed him with 16 points and four triples of his own. Jaxon Jurmu had 13. Henry Wood scored 12 points, and Connor Fierstine sunk 11.

“The first half we were little sluggish,” noted Sentinels’ coach Rich Ledy. “We shot the ball better in the second half. Everything starts off defense. Our offense comes off our defense. That was true tonight.”

Lane Laux led the scoring for the Gremlins with 15 points. Luke Hill followed with 14 and Terry Nolan sunk 12.

UP NEXT

The Gremlins are at home against the Jeffers’ Jets on Tuesday.