Roundup: Gaylord, St. Mary basketball win last-second thrillers in conference matchups
GAYLORD ― As the winter postseason draws nearer, games around the Gaylord area are gaining more meaning.
With that extra meaning comes more emotional games and, like clockwork, more emotional endings. This weekend, you couldn't get away from those emotional finishes.
Catch up on the results from this past weekend, including a great night of basketball on Friday night:
Lamerato's buzzer-beater pushes Gaylord past Alpena
Gaylord has had an up-and-down season, but its main struggles have come in Big North play. Entering Tuesday night with a 2-4 conference record, the Blue Devils will take any conference win they can get from here on out, any way they can get it.
It took until the final seconds on Friday, Feb. 2, but they got the job done.
Gaylord battled Alpena through all four quarters, eventually putting themselves in a position to win, inbounding the ball with 24 seconds to go. The Blue Devils eventually won the battle, skillfully using all of the remaining clock before Torino Lamerato iced the game with a game-winning, buzzer-beater layup to secure a 56-54 win.
Luke Gelow led the way with 25 points, while Cayden Keck had 11 points.
Gaylord (7-9, 3-4 BNC) hosts Bay City Western on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
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GSM upsets Mancelona in big Ski Valley matchup
The Gaylord St. Mary hopes for a Ski Valley title are not dead yet, but the margin for error could not be any slimmer.
With four conference losses and three teams above them in the SVC standings, GSM would need everything to go its way from here on out, and that includes winning every time they get a chance at any of those three teams ahead of them.
It took an all-out battle at Monsignor Kaminski Gymnasium on Friday evening, but GSM got exactly what it needed when it ook down the conference's top team, Mancelona, with a stellar defensive effort to pull out a 36-33 victory.
Daniel Jacobson led the team with 18 points while Rylan Matelski added 12 points.
GSM (10-5, 8-4 SVC) is on the road at Ellsworth and Onaway this week.
Gaylord wrestling wins another BNC title
Gaylord wrestling continues its historic run as the top dogs in the Big North Conference, winning the team's 17th consecutive conference title at Traverse City Central this past weekend.
The team claimed six individual titles from Jason Cranick (120 pounds), Jaron Bensinger (126 pounds), Kieran Beach (132 pounds), Zane Willobeee (157 pounds), Ty Bensinger (190 pounds) and Caden Sides. Gaylord wrestlers also claimed two more runner-up spots (Sunni LaFond, Dylan Boucher) as well as a third (Leland Korona) and a fourth-place (Brock Young) finish.
The team's overall score was 168.5, just edging out Cadillac at 160.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Roundup: Gaylord, St. Mary basketball win last-second thrillers in conference matchups
