By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com

MANISTEE — Gage Jones sparked the Ludington boys’ basketball team on Wedneday night and helped the Orioles capture a 67-38 victory over Manistee in a Division 2 district semifinal game.

Jones hit a trio of 3-pointers in the opening quarter that got the Orioles off and running. Jones’ early explosion cranked up the Orioles’ offense, and the defense harried the Mariners into committing several turnovers that gave them extra possessions.

Spencer Holmes and David Shillinger scored just four points each in the first half as the Mariners successfully slowed them down, but the strategy left others, like Jones, open.

“We did a great job on Spencer Holmes and even Shillinger in the first half,” Manistee coach Zach Bialik said. “I’ll take the fault for some of it. We tried to slow a couple people down, and by doing that, you leave a couple people open. That’s on me. But that’s what I thought gave us the best chance to win, and it just didn’t work out today. Your goal is to never lose.”

Meanwhile, the Orioles defense did a number on the Manistee offense, limiting the Mariners to just three points in the first period in building a 16-3 lead.

Shillinger scored all four of his points in the second quarter, but again, the major factor was Ludington’s defense which again held down the Manistee offense to take a 24-9 halftime lead.

“I was really pleased with our team defense tonight,” said Ludington coach Thad Shank. “In the first two matchups that we played against them, the (Kaden) Kott and (Jacob) Scharp kids did a very nice job of breaking us down on the dribble and creating some offense for them.

“I thought our kids came in tonight pretty focused about eliminating penetration and not allowing them to create,” Shank said. “I thought we did a phenomenal job of that throughout the game. That was the difference. Everybody talks about David Shillinger all the time, and Dave is one of the greatest players in the history of Mason County without a doubt.

“But we have a lot of other guys who can play, and you saw that with Gage (Jones) did at the beginning of the game, and what Spencer Holmes did in the third and fourth quarter,” Shank said. “We have kids that can score the ball.”

Shillinger broke loose in the second half and completed the night leading all scorers with 20 points. Jones had four 3-pointers and scored 15, while Holmes and Cam Gunsell had 12 apiece.

Jacob Scharp had a big second half and wound up with 14 points for the Mariners, while Landin Sowa had eight.

Ludington (17-6) faces Reed City (19-4) in the district championship game Friday night at 7 p.m. in Manistee.

Take a look at photos from the action shot by Joe Washington.