HOUGHTON — The Gwinn boys’ basketball team earned their first victory of the season with a 52-47 win over the Houghton Gremlins on Wednesday.

“I’m very excited for our guys,” said Modeltowner head coach Kyle Aho. “The key to this one was that we made out shots. That hasn’t been the case in our last five games.”

The Modeltowners jumped on the boards first with a 6-2 lead and led 10-6 after the first quarter.

Houghton (3-4) dominated the second quarter as they outscored Gwinn 14-10, and the Gremlins went to the locker room with a 22-20 tilt.

“I told the guys at half time that I loved the way they were playing defensively in the half court,” said Aho. “Also, they needed to knock down some shots, and if they did that, I said we could win this one.”

As the two teams hit the floor for the third, there was a scoring drought for the first two and a half minutes. However, Gwinn’s Kevin Noble broke the silence with three pointer at the 5:23 mark. The Modeltowners then took a brief 30-29 lead. However, Houghton reversed that with a three-pointer by Tucker Ryynanen. It was the Gremlins only three-pointer of the night, and it put the Gremlins up 34-30 and eventually 38-33 after three.

The fourth quarter belonged to Gwinn. They opened with seven unanswered points — four of which came from their 6-foot-4 center Caleb Stieler.

“Caleb played phenomenal tonight,” said his coach. “We’ve been working with him to be more aggressive when he gets the ball, and he did just that as he didn’t hesitate and took it to the hoop.”

A three pointer by Gwinn’s Carl Peterson tied the game at 40. Peterson would lead the Modletowners in scoring with 15 points — nine of those from beyond the three-point line.

A 40-40 game morphed into a 48-42 lead for Gwinn as they stayed hot, and the Gremlins went cold.

“The bottom line was that our shots didn’t fall,” said Houghton’s head coach Jared Lawson. “And there are going to be nights like that. Otherwise, I thought we played a good game.”

Dylan Primeau led the scoring for Houghton with 12 points. Ryynanen followed with 11.

The Modletowners outscored the Gremlins 19-9 in the fourth to seal the win.

“We made our shots there at the end,” Aho said. “That has been our biggest struggle this season. Also, the team kept their composure in the second half and did not crumble. Again, that has been a bad pattern for us. So, it was good to see us get out of that.”

GHS 10 10 13 19 — 52

HHS 8 14 16 9 — 47

GWINN (52): Woods 2, Johnson 2, Peterson 15, Evans 4, Noble 5, Soyring 4, Dupras 11, McGuire 2, Stieler 6. FT: 2-2. 3-pointers: Peterson 3, Noble 1, Dupras 3.

HOUGHTON (47): Lawson 7, Hill 2, Kieranen 2, K. Primeau 7, Ryynanen 11, Pugh 4, D. Primeau 12, Guidas 2; FT: 4-9. 3-pointers: Ryynanen 1.