Houghton’s Pablo Salgado, center, splits Gwinn defenders on his way to the basket on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — All it took was three players and the Houghton Gremlins were able to outscore the Gwinn Modeltowners in boys basketball action.

Houghton’s Brad Simonsen had 39 points, Pablo Salgado poured in 12 and senior Jordan Jurvu added three for a 54-52 victory on Wednesday.

“It was a hard fought game by both teams,” said Houghton’s head coach Jordan Lawson. “We were lucky to come out with the win.”

It didn’t come easy.

The rivals played a similarly controlled style of play which as they moved the ball around looking for the open shot. Gwinn however was still down 43-36 at the start of the fourth.

Momentum changed as the buckets started to fall for Gwinn while Houghton went cold. The Modeltowners began the last eight minutes with a three-pointer by David Duvall and went on 6-0 point run to take a 44-43 lead with 5:39 left to play.

It then became a 48-48 tie with 1:42 left much to the frustration of Houghton’s Lawson as he watched a series of Simonsen’s attempts bounce around the rim and back out.

“I cant imagine how many he would have had if all those that went in and out fell through,” Lawson said.

The Modeltowners (1-6) Jacob Harnick opened the game with a three-pointer and Gwinn pushed out to a 12-11 lead after the first quarter.

The Gremlins (5-3), however, rallied back and took advantage of some turnovers by Gwinn and outscored them 19-10 to head to the locker room up eight at halftime.

“We knew we had our work cut out coming into this game,” said Modeltowner head coach Jim Finkbeiner. “Our biggest thing was put one of seniors (Caleb Anderson) on Brad and make him work. Caleb did a heck of a job as he made Brad work for every shot. He also had help on the back side.”

That was the good news coming out of the first half from the Modeltowner’s head coach.

“On the down side, we turned the ball over way too much as we telegraphed our passes,” Finkbeiner said.

The game was then won at the free throw line in the last minute a the “Houghton three” went to the line and poured in the remaining six points.

Despite the loss, Finkbeiner was very happy with the way his boys played. They were led by Duvall’s 14 points.

“I was really please with the effort our guys put in,” he said. “It was tremendous especially against two really good shooters tonight.”

The Gremlins visit the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts on Friday.

Gwinn 12 10 14 16 — 52

Houghton 11 19 13 11 — 54

GWINN (52): Duvall 14, Harnick 9, Lightfoot 11, Anderson 7, Jancsi 3, Hill 8. 3-point FG: 7 (Harnick 3, Duvall 4) F: 14. FT: 5-8.

HOUGHTON (54): Simonsen 39, Salgado 12, Jurvu 3. 3-point FG: 5 (Simonsen 5). F: 11. FT: 11-15.