Mackinaw City boys score 31 in third, top Harbor Light in key NLC clash

MACKINAW CITY – Back in December, the Mackinaw City Comets felt the heartbreak after a one-point loss at Harbor Light.

A few months later, the Comets finally got their long-awaited chance at revenge against the Swordsmen in an all-important Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball showdown.

This time, the Comets weren’t about to let the Swordsmen hang around until the end.

Instead, they went off on a third-quarter explosion, left the Swordsmen in the dust, and took control of their conference title destiny.

Fueled by a game-high 26 points from senior Cooper Whipkey, the Comets delivered a 31-point third quarter and coasted to a 76-54 victory over the Swordsmen on Tuesday.

“We’ve been wanting this conference for a while, so it’s super exciting,” said Whipkey. “We’ve had a lot of close games this season, and it would just be super exciting if we can get it. We just stayed mentally strong, we didn’t let the fouls get in our head, and we just played our game. We try to take it slow. Once we got the lead, the more time we take off the clock, the better.”

Despite struggling with his shooting in the opening half, Whipkey got hot in the third by knocking down five 3-pointers, scoring 17 in the quarter, and keying a 16-2 Mackinaw City run to help the Comets take a commanding 62-39 lead into the final period. The Comets hit seven threes in the third, including a trey from junior Sabastian Pierce to force a Harbor Light timeout, and then a circus-like triple from junior forward Lucas Bergstrom, who beat the buzzer to put Mackinaw City up 23.

“We were extremely motivated,” said Bergstrom, who scored nine of his 16 points in the third. “We wanted to make a statement in the conference. The last time we played them, we obviously lost by one in a heartbreaker, but we knew that if we played our game and played strong, we could have a good shot with them. We knew they were going to be a physical team, but we’re a pretty physical team ourselves, so it equals out.”

With the win, the Comets (12-3, 8-1) put themselves in the driver’s seat to capture their first NLC championship since the 2017 season. Ellsworth (12-5, 6-2) is currently second with two conference defeats, both to the Comets, while Harbor Light (8-8, 6-3) dropped to third after the loss on Tuesday.

Both teams shot poorly to open the contest, but the Comets held a 14-12 advantage after one quarter of play.

The Swordsmen ended up leading for a good portion of the second, but the Comets, who trailed 22-21, finished the half on a 10-2 spurt and took a 31-24 advantage into the break.

Then came the magnificent third quarter, something Mackinaw City head coach John Martin was thrilled to see.

“We may have had a couple words at halftime that pertained to getting out and running a little bit, and our ability to get out and run hurts people,” said Martin. “If you’re tired, and we’re capable of putting that kind of pressure on you, it affects both ends of the court. We were able to get out and run a little bit in that third quarter.”

While the Swordsmen established themselves physically early on, Martin praised the way his Comet players made adjustments throughout the contest.

“Realistically, in a physical game, we have six kids – we can’t afford to go three fouls, four fouls deep,” Martin said. “We don’t have the bench to be able to do that. The adjustments we made actually worked. We went to the zone to try to protect that a little bit, and we were able to still maintain some pressure on their guards, and things fell our way tonight.

“Things worked the way we hoped they would work, and the kids came out and performed.”

Lars Huffman also hit double figures for Mackinaw City by scoring 11 points. Pierce finished with nine points, Trystan Swanson scored all eight of his points in the second quarter, and Noah Valot chipped in with six.

Eighth grader Landon Jakeway and junior David Chamberlain finished with 17 points apiece to pace Harbor Light, which received eight points from Andrew Stahl. Kirk Rose and Vaughn Henagan each recorded six.

With three conference opponents left on the schedule – Wolverine, Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian Academy and Alanson – there's still work left to be done for the Comets.

For Martin, he and his team won't overlook anybody as they look to end a six-year title drought.

“We’ll come back to that first game when we played Harbor Light and remind them many times before next week against Wolverine and (Burt Lake) NMCA, and we’ll remind them that we can’t take anybody for granted,” Martin said. “Wolverine is capable, they’ve got a couple nice players, and NMCA’s got a couple nice players. They’re capable of putting up a big number. We can’t afford to get in foul trouble, injuries, sickness, anything that puts us at a disadvantage at this point.

“We like our spot at the top, not going to lie, but we’ve got work to do.”

Mackinaw City will be off for a week before it resumes NLC play with a road clash at Wolverine on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Whipkey, Mackinaw City boys score 31 in third, top Harbor Light in key Northern Lakes clash