​​Houghton's Adin Hilts (23) finds himself sandwiched between Gwinn's Gage Jones (left) and Ean Prohn (right) during a game Monday at the Houghton High School gym. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Gremlins boys basketball team started the new year off right with a 68-26 thrashing of the Gwinn Modeltowners Monday at home.

The Gremlins posted an 11-0 shutout to open the first quarter and never looked back. A 24-6 lead after eight minutes morphed into a 42-13 lead at half. A pesky Gremlins’ defense that featured a half-court trap gave Gwinn fits and forced a lot of turnovers that resulted in easy baskets for the home team.

“I like the team effort,” said Gremlins coach Jared Lawson. “Everybody was prepared to go into the game and did their job. It was a good way to start the year.”

With a score of 56-15 at the 2:43 mark of the third quarter, the running clock kicked in.

“I was happy to get everybody in,” Lawson added. “They all contributed in some capacity whether that was just a minute or three or four minutes on the court. This allowed our starters to rest.”

Terrance Nolan led the scoring for the Gremlins with 22 points, including four triples. Alex Hebert followed with 17 points, and Jack Cooke sunk 13.

“Game ball goes to Alex (Hebert),” stated Lawson. “His ballhandling and defense proved to be key for us.”

The Houghton defense kept the Gwinn offense in single-digit scoring for all four quarters. Nate Carter led the scoring for the Modeltowners with nine.

Up next

The Gremlins will face the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts Friday in Dollar Bay.