MARQUETTE, MI – 2/16/2015 – Did you know Valentine’s Day was on Saturday? While I am a man with a lady to impress on the day, it really made me step back and realize… this season’s almost over! Between the boys & girls, there are just 65 games left in the regular season. To put that in perspective, there are a total of 280 games played by MPC teams in a season, so we’re 80% done with 2014-2015 basketball. I’m still looking at teams like the Negaunee girls and Gwinn boys and think: ‘They’re going to figure it out. They’ve got this.’ Maybe they will, but we are 16 & 14 games in here, respectively, and the time is NOW. You can’t be ‘figuring it out’ come playoff time, because the top teams in your district will be playing for their lives, just like you.
With only one conference loss at home this year, nobody wants to take on the Lady Hematites on their court.The Lady Hematites had a shake-up at the beginning of last week with the “resignation” of coach Tom Graves, and school spirit was ruled “inappropriate” by the Westwood Patriots brass. Nontheless, after a disappointing outing in Gladstone, the Lady Hematites destroyed the Norway Knights by 18 points at home. After his one-game leave, Westwood’s coach Kurt Corcoran brought his team to their third conference win on the season, and still have the chance to finish with a .500 record in conference despite their rough start to the year. In Negaunee, the girls team is proof that you have to play all four quarters. Coach Sager’s girls outscored their opponents last week (Calumet & Iron Mountain) 58-37 in the first half of games, but have been outscored a staggering 66-33 in the second half. After their loss to Iron Mountain on Thursday, Negaunee has been knocked from MPC regular season championship contention.
On the boys side of things, we have a similar view of things. With only two teams left in contention for the MPC title, the end of the year is lining up to be exciting. The MPC-leading Mountaineers responded from their first loss of the year with two 20 point wins over Escanaba & Norway. Their biggest competition for the conference title, Negaunee, absolutely locked down their rivals (Ishpeming & Westwood) defensively, allowing just 20 & 36 points respectively. Iron Mountain still has two wins in hand over the Miners, but all signs are pointing to a showdown in Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium on March 3rd. After a 7-2 start, the ModelTowners have dropped four of the last five and are now floundering and looking for a momentum shift in their last six games of the season. Enough of looking to the past, let’s look forward! Here is the schedule coming up this week:
MONDAY 2/16
Girls Basketball
- Iron Mountain Mountaineers @ Manistique Emeralds IM: 48 MAN: 22
- L’Anse Purple Hornets @ Ishpeming Hematites ISH: 78 L’A: 35
Boys Basketball
- Manistique Emeralds @ Engadine Eagles MAN: 68 ENG: 59 (Approx score given by Eng.)
TUESDAY 2/17
Girls Basketball
- Gwinn ModelTowners @ Negaunee Miners GWN: 53 NEG: 52
- West Iron County Wykons @ Westwood Patriots WW: 40 WIC: 33
Boys Basketball
- Westwood Patriots @ Gwinn ModelTowners WW: 61 GWN: 51
- Ishpeming Hematites @ Marquette Redettes MQT: 46 ISH: 43
- Kingsford Flivvers @ Iron Mountain Mountaineers IM: 47 KING: 37
- Forest Park Trojans @ Norway Knights FP: 61 NOR: 35
- Negaunee Miners @ Gladstone Braves NEG: 55 GLAD: 45
WEDNESDAY 2/18
Girls Basketball
- No Games
Boys Basketball
- No Games
THURSDAY 2/19
Girls Basketball
- Escanaba Eskymos @ Ishpeming Hematites ISH: 58 ESKY: 54
Boys Basketball
- Marquette Redmen @ Negaunee Miners NEG: 56 MQT: 44
FRIDAY 2/20
Girls Basketball
- Negaunee Miners @ Westwood Patriots NEG: 36 WW: 29
- Gwinn ModelTowners @ Norway Knights NOR: 50 GWN: 42
- Kingsford Flivvers @ Iron Mountain Mountaineers KING: 75 IM: 59
Boys Basketball
- Ishpeming Hematites @ Manistique Emeralds ISH: 49 MAN: 39
- Munising Mustangs @ Gwinn ModelTowners MUN: 42 GWN: 24
This week fills up 25 of the 65 games left in the boys & girls MPC teams’ seasons. The girls have just two weeks left before the playoffs, and the boys aren’t far behind. Let’s take a look at the standings as they stand (updated daily).
MPC STANDINGS (Through 2/21)
Girls Basketball
- Ishpeming Hematites (15-3; 9-1)
- Iron Mountain Mountaineers (11-7; 9-2)
- Negaunee Miners (8-10; 6-5)
- Gwinn ModelTowners (11-7; 5-5)
- Norway Knights (11-7; 5-6)
- Westwood Patriots (4-13; 3-7)
- Manistique Emeralds (1-17 0-11)
Boys Basketball
- Iron Mountain Mountaineers (16-1; 9-1)
- Negaunee Miners (13-3; 7-1)
- Ishpeming Hematites (11-6; 6-4)
- Westwood Patriots (7-8; 5-5)
- Gwinn ModelTowners (8-8; 5-6)
- Norway Knights (5-11; 2-7)
- Manistique Emeralds (3-13; 1-10)
Thanks to Patty Gagnon, the MPC secretary, we can also look at who’s leading the MPC in scoring & other statistics, if you’d like to see the stats, click HERE! Good luck to each team down the stretch as we near the playoffs!
-Carl Leander Johnson