Samsons make game of it after first 10 minutes, but Lions win

HANCOCK - It was a pretty good game after the first 10 minutes.

Finlandia came out of the gates on fire and then held off Gogebic Community College's comeback efforts for a 81-66 win Wednesday.

The Lions (11-13) scored the game's first 13 points, including three triples to start the game. FU built the lead to 30-10 before the Samsons started chipping away. They got it down to 13 points before the half, but Finlandia held for the last shot and Tyler Koski's basket made it 48-33 at the break.

"We settled down a little bit," GCC coach Dennis Mackey said. "I thought we got a little bit overwhelmed at the start. We were a little rushed, I thought, we took some hurried 3s, hurried shots, in particular. We were doing one pass and shoot. And Finlandia would come down and hit a 3. That was kind of the difference to set the tone early. Then once we relaxed, we seemed to get our act together."

The start of the game proved to be the difference, Finlandia coach Mike O'Donnell said.

"We shot the ball well," he said. "We played with energy. Looking at that final spread, it was definitely the difference tonight. Gogebic responded, and I thought played with a little more energy, a little more sense of urgency. We were kind of on our heels the rest of the game, trying to hang on."

Before the halfway point of the second half, GCC cut it to 10, 58-48, with 11:58 left.

Later, Tarius Hagood's basket pulled Gogebic within eight points, the first time it was in single digits since the very beginning. With it 60-52 and 10:22 still remaining, Finlandia took timeout.

"They extended their pressure," O'Donnell said of GCC. "They were denying the wings, just kind of disrupted our offensive flow. We got in that game of when to attack, when not to attack. I thought we were a little complacent with that lead. I thought we settled a little bit. That definitely proved to be tough for us because they really made a push at us after that. You could feel the momentum start to change."

After that, Gogebic missed opportunities to cut into it further.

Adam Mackey had a shot inside miss and then came up short on the front end of a one-on-one with 8:23 left.

Finlandia scored, but LaDell Hickman quickly countered with a runner.

FU's Eric Lori drained a 3. GCC's Collin Miller missed the front end at the line. Lori drilled another 3 from on top with Mackey closely guarding him. The Samsons got it to under 10 again briefly, but Lori's shots were killers.

"It seemed like we had five possessions where we just didn't capitalize. We had opportunities," coach Mackey said. "We had them reeling a little bit. We were moving the basketball. We had some great looks. We just didn't make that extra shot and that's the way it goes."

Lori was an All-U.P. First Teamer for O'Donnell at Negaunee last season.

"He stepped up and nailed a couple big ones for us," O'Donnell said. "We were struggling. We were having a hard time getting anything going and he stepped up and knocked a couple big ones down that got us that separation. I thought after those two shots, we played a lot better offensively for the final four minutes."

Gogebic just wishes it could do away with the first 10 minutes because it was game on after that.

"Once we settled down, I thought we played pretty well for the most part," Mackey said. "We got it to eight points in the second half and we had to have four or five chances. We just couldn't make that play to get it under eight. I thought if we could get it four or five, who knows what could happen?

Michael Harris led GCC with 20 points, Miller scored 13 and Mackey had 12.

Koski led Finlandia with 19 points. Robinette had 17, Lori 15 and Jordan LaPlant 10. LaPlant, a former GCC and Ewen-Trout Creek standout, led FU with 14 boards.

GCC (16-12) goes to St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday to play Dakota County Technical College in the NJCAA Division II Region 13 opener.

GCC - LaDell Hickman 16, Michael Harris 20, Adam Mackey 12, Tarius Hagood 2, Brandon Cooper 1, Ben Zielinski 2, Collin Miller 13. FTs: 19-24. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Hickman 3, Harris 2, Mackey 2.

Finlandia - Tyler Koski 19, Andrew Johnson 6, Eric Lori 15, Jordan LaPlant 10, Brandon Robinette 17, Brandon Robinson 4, Marcus Geralds 8, Schwatz Jarmond 2. FTs: 20-27. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Lori 4, Koski 2, LaPlant 2, Robinette 2, Johnson 1.

Half: Finlandia 48-33.