ESCANABA - Ewen-Trout Creek's dynamic duo of Dillon Gordon and Jordan LaPlant was difficult to stop on the floor and difficult to separate in postseason awards voting.
In the end, the 21 voters of the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association opted for the same route as Associated Press voters before them, putting LaPlant at the highest level.
LaPlant was one of three Class D selections to the 2012 U.P. Boys' Basketball Dream Team, released today after meetings Tuesday at the House of Ludington.
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JORDAN LAPLANT
The 6-foot-2 senior, who was selected to the Class D First Team in 2011 and Second Team in 2010, averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Older brother Tony was selected to the Dream Team in 2009.
During the last four years, E-TC won 79 games and lost just 15. This year, the Panthers went 19-1 in the regular season and reached the regional finals before losing to Munising.
Gordon was selected to the Class D First Team. He averaged 24.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in his junior season. Gordon was also given honorable mention in state Class D voting by AP.
Munising's star player, Kenya Oas, was also selected to the Dream Team after recording 21.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. The 5-10 senior's efforts played a major role in Munising's first district tournament championship since 1957.
For his efforts, Oas was chosen Class D Player of the Year. He is the first from Munising to win the award in Class D, though Shane Peterson of the Mustangs was the top Class ABC player in 1994.
The third Class D pick on the Dream Team is a junior, Mid Peninsula's Brett Branstrom. Branstrom continued to establish himself as a dominant force inside, averaging 20.5 points, 15.9 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game.
The two top players from above Class D rounded out the Dream Team.
Sault Ste. Marie point guard Steve Angeli was named Player of the Year in Class ABC after leading the Blue Devils to their first regional tournament win since 1959.
The 5-9 senior averaged eight assists per game, completing his prep career with 492, a school record. He also contributed 13 points and four rebounds a game.
Sault High, which went 21-3 before exiting in the regional finals, won Class AB Team of the Year for a second straight year. Team of the Year was also a repeat (Negaunee) in Class C.
Angeli outpolled Kingsford's Jeff Gregory. The 6-1 senior averaged 17 points and seven rebounds as Kingsford won its first Great Northern Conference crown since 1999.
That season also netted an award for Flivver coach Dan Olkkonen. Olkkonen, a White Pine native, led Kingsford to a school record 17-win season and was rewarded with Class ABC Coach of the Year laurels.
Munising's Dan Waterman was named Class D's top coach, though Team of the Year honors in the class went to Carney-Nadeau, which rode its playoff hot streak past the Mustangs in the regional final and into the state semifinals before elimination at the hands of Climax-Scotts.