Houghton’s Kyle Primeau, right, drives to the basket against Gladstone during a MHSAA Division 2 District 33 opener on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — If the basketball gods were giving out grades for effort on the court, the Houghton Gremlins would have received an “A” on Tuesday night.

Despite a 78-63 loss to the Gladstone Braves in MHSAA Division 2 District 33 action, they gave it their all.

While the scoreboard recorded a 15-point victory, the story on the court told another tale. The Gremlins adopted a fresh, new style of play over the past few weeks. In short the Gremlins have moved from third gear to first here at the tail end of the season.

“With only one win on the season, the kids were frustrated and so was I,” said Gremlins head coach Jared Lawson. “So we talked about it, and the players voted to a faster game and trying to shoot more threes because they are worth more than twos.”

Under this new “run and gun” style the Gremlins earned their second victory of the year with a 69-46 win over L’Anse a week ago. Then last Friday they were leading West Iron County up until the last four minutes. Even better there are two shifts on the team. No one rides the bench.

“As well, everybody plays,” Lawson said. “Every two minutes I put in five new bodies.”

As the clock started, so did the threes for Gremlins. On the other end it was balls in the paint for the Braves. Houghton scored five of their 11 triples in the first eight minutes. This included two from senior Shawn Ruotsala.

Meanwhile, the Braves struck big with their inside game. In particular, Rane Castor led the charge with six of his eight points on the night in the first. After eight minutes of play. Houghton led 19-17.

The second period looked a lot like the first and the teams headed into the locker at half tied at 38.

“I told the guys at half-time to get their act together,” said Gladstone head coach Mike Creten. “I asked them if they wanted to end their season tonight or play at least one more game.”

They answered “one more game” as seen by a good third quarter where they outscored the Gremlins 20-12. They had an equally good fourth quarter as they added another 20 points and the Gremlins just 13.

“They had more patience in the fourth, and we didn’t turn the ball over as much,” Creten said. “We had ten turnovers in the first half and just six in the second. As well, we had a total of 25 assists which is very good.”

Cam Ballard led the charge for the Braves with 22 points. Dayton Berson followed with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

For the Gremlins, Mikko Salmi had 15 points and Ruotsala had 13.

Larson is excited about the future of Gremlin basketball after just three games to end the season.

“The philosophy is there but we have to practice it,” said Lawson of moving forward. “The kids did a great job these last two weeks since we implemented this new style. The amount of fun we have had as well has made it all worth it. That is something you cannot put a price on.”