30th annual U.P. All-Star Classic

By Dennis Grall

MARQUETTE - Joey Duncan helped give his dad an early Father's Day present Saturday at the 30th annual U.P. All-Star Classic.

Duncan was named MVP after helping the South to a 108-88 victory over the North boys at Marquette High School.

Duncan, a two-time Class D all-state selection and the all-time leading scorer (1,755 points) at Cedarville High School, scored 25 points as South pulled away down the stretch.

Duncan's father, Dave, served as South's co-coach with Bucky Johnson of Iron Mountain. It was his final game on the bench after a sterling career that included a Class D state championship in 2007 and a career record of 429-166 at Cedarville.

Nearly half of his games were played in the gym named for his father, John. The floor is named for Dave Duncan, who also coached his twin sons, Jason and Jordan. Jason is replacing his father as boys varsity coach.

Duncan's daughter, Jessie, is the girls' scoring leader at Cedarville.

Rob Granquist of 2015 Class D state champion North Central added 18 points for South, Brad Causley of Cedarville and Dan Harrington of Kingsford had 11 and Bruce Bailey of DeTour hit 10 points.

Lance Berwald of Bessemer led North with 16 points, Jake DiGiorgio of Ironwood had 12, Ben Stasewich of Munising added 11 and Vejay Grazulis of Marquette hit 10 points.

In Saturday's opener, the North girls beat South 68-62 by closing the first half on a 17-1 point burst.

Bree Swan of Sault Ste. Marie earned MVP honors by hitting 19 points for North. Hunter Viitala of Marquette had 12 points and eight rebounds and Ellen Twardzik of Class C state champion Calumet had 10 points.

Sarah Smith of Class D state champion St. Ignace led South with 20 points.

Viitala won the 3-point shooting contest before the game while Michigan Tech University recruit Michelle LaFave of Escanaba took the free throw contest.

Brett Poissant of Lake Linden-Hubbell won the boys 3-point contest and Stasewich took the slam dunk contest.

The game is sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame and proceeds are used in the UPSHF scholarship fund. Margo Brown of St. Ignace, one of this year's four scholar recipients, had eight points for South.

UPSHF Inducts Class of 2016

The 45th annual Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction was held Saturday, May 14, 2016, at Island Resort & Casino in Harris, Mich.

The inductees include:
front row from left, Byron Johnson of Bessemer, Frank Novak of Marquette, Dorene Ingalls of St. Ignace, Rich Salani of Hancock and Jeff Gressick of Menominee; back row, Bob Danbom and Laurie Inman, representing their deceased father Larry Danbom of Calumet, Troy Carlson, representing his deceased father Bob "Cubby" Carlson of Gladstone/Ontonagon, Mandi (Long) Zemba of Menominee, Beverly Ghiardi, representing her late husband Dave of Negaunee/Munising, and Marc Boxer, representing his father Herb of Hancock.

Photo by Dennis Grall

2016 U.P. All-Star Classic

By Dennis Grall

MARQUETTE - Excuse everyone if they tell you they were seeing double Saturday (June 18, 2016) at the 31st annual U.P. All-Star Classic basketball game. That is because they were seeing double.

Twin sisters Karley and Kelsey Johnson of Stephenson won the special event skills contests before the pair of basketball games. Then Morgan Cox of two-time Class D state boys basketball champion North Central won the slam dunk contest and most valuable player award in events at Marquette High School.

Cox scored 19 points and had a batch of rebounds and a couple of assists to help the South boys beat the North 110-103. Cox scored in every quarter as coach Mark Branstrom of Mid Peninsula High School rotated his players throughout the game.

"We just wanted to push the tempo and get the game going," he said. "We knew that they were getting tired in the first quarter, so we knew we just had to push the ball more and we did. It was so much fun. We have a lot of friends on the other team, so it was just a blast to play in this game.

"It's just nice to graduate knowing that I never lost a game. Not a lot of kids can say that. I'm so grateful for that."

Kyle Johnson of Iron Mountain, who was involved in a serious car accident a week earlier on U.S. 2 just east of Iron Mountain, shook off his injuries to contribute 18 points. James Casey of Big Bay de Noc had 14 points, Manuel Duran of Carney-Nadeau added 12 points and Noah Berg of North Dickinson scored 11 points.

Duran helped Cox, his neighboring high school rival, win the dunk contest. In the final round, Cox leaped over Duran to cram the ball through the hoop among a wide display of dunks.

Gage Kreski of St. Ignace, who became the Upper Peninsula's all-time boys basketball career scoring leader this season, had 30 points for North. Kreski finished his career with 2,178 points.

Kreski, who will play football at Central Michigan University, met with Dominic (Duke) Jacobetti before the game. Jacobetti, playing for now extinct Negaunee St. Paul, finished his career 51 years ago with 2,140 points. Kreski scored 18 points in the first half but North trailed 64-58. Kreski, like Cox, scored in every quarter.

Josh Hood of Newberry added 20 points for North while Mike Graves of Munising and Luke Gray of Westwood had 10 points apiece.

Tanner Huotari of Iron Mountain won the pre-game 3-point shooting contest.

In the girls game, North clipped South 72-49 in a game it controlled from the onset. North led 39-24 at halftime.

MVP Tori Lauren of Gwinn led North with 14 points, Taylor Pertile of Hancock hit 13 points and Abby Wardynski of Ontonagon added 11.

For the South girls, Tori Wangerin of Stephenson and Hannah Kanyuh of Rapid River scored 10 points apiece.

Karley Johnson of Stephenson won the free throw contest and her twin sister Kelsey took the 3-point shooting contest.

The game is sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. Proceeds from the game are used to help fund the UPSHF scholar-athlete award in which four U.P. senior student/athletes receive $500 over four years of college scholarships.

Kreski, Brenna James of Sault Ste. Marie and Abbey Ostman of St. Ignace played in the game after being among this year's scholarship recipients. Zane Sarafiny of West Iron County was the fourth recipient.