Escanaba senior David Romps (22, in white) attempts to put up a mid-range jump shot past the outreached hands of Marquette sophomore Connor Fierstine (22, in black) during a Great Northern Conference boys’ basketball game on Jan. 2, 2024 at Escanaba High School. Romps made this shot and finished with 11 points in a 63-56 loss.

ESCANABA — For three quarters, Escanaba boys basketball went blow for blow with Marquette.

After 10 lead changes and five tied scores through 24 minutes of basketball, Marquette pulled away in the final eight, defeating the Eskymos 63-56 in a Great Northern Conference clash on Tuesday.

“Shots started falling,” said Marquette junior Jacob MacPhee, who finished with a game-best 22 points. “We hit a couple of threes. There was a good defensive effort. Everyone was working. Everyone was hustling. It was just an all around good (fourth) quarter.”

With a 45-43 lead owned by the team that wore black and red jerseys on Tuesday night, junior Jacob MacPhee drove to the basket, drew a foul, scored and made the ensuing free throw on the and-1 play to push the lead to 48-43. Sophomore Connor Fierstine made a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 50-43 after Esky senior Shane Wallin earned his third foul and junior Cody Noel picked up his fourth with 6:37 to go.

The Eskymos bounced back with a jump shot from senior David Romps and a steal turned into two points from Wallin to cut the deficit to 50-47.

Marquette junior Kyle Sager converted in the paint to open the lead back to five points. Wallin knocked down a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit back to three.

Then the team that wore black and red jerseys on Tuesday night began to pull away.

Layups from Sager, sandwiched by a MacPhee putback off a missed 3-point shot by junior Jaxon Jermu, extended the Marquette advantage to 58-49, forcing an Esky timeout.

Eskymos junior Javon Stevenson, playing with four fouls, missed a contested shot on the ensuing possession. Sager collected the ball, drove to the basket, made the shot and picked up the foul for an and-1 opportunity. Sager completed the 3-point play to open a 61-49 lead.

Esky claimed seven of the game’s final nine points, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Despite falling to 5-3 on the season and having a three-game winning streak snapped, Esky found ways to keep stride with the team that wore black and red jerseys on Tuesday night.

Trailing 29-25 early in the third, the Eskymos used free throws from Noel and a 3-pointer from Wallin to take a 30-29 lead. With the ball on the wing, Wallin pump faked, psyched out his defender, pulled up and connected on a jump shot to cap off a 7-0 which led to a 33-29 orange and black lead.

Trailing 40-35 in the same frame off one of Sager’s three third-quarter 3-pointers, the Eskymos marched back. Romps hit a turn around jumper, Sophomore Lennox Peacock drained a shot from downtown. Romps also connected from beyond the arc to cap an 8-3 run to tie the game at 43 late in the third frame.

“I thought, overall, we did some really good things,” Esky coach Scott Hanson said. “We just kind of melted down for a couple minutes, which is really frustrating. A GNC win at home goes a long way, because they’re hard to get on the road. I was hoping we could get one tonight but it didn’t happen.

“It’s not going to be easier down in Menominee on Friday.”

Wallin led the Eskymos with 16 points. Romps tallied 11 points. Noel added 10 points. Senior Ben Johnson earned seven points, including five in the fourth quarter. Peacock finished with five points. Stevenson tallied for points.

Sager finished with 21 points, including 18 points in the second half.

Jurmu finished with nine points. Fierstine accumulated six points. Senior Jack Quinnell and junior Henry Wood added two points each. Senior Wyatt Lakened earned one point. Marquette returns to action for a home game against Kingsford on Thursday.

Esky begins a three-game road trip against Menominee at 7 p.m. Friday. The Eskymos also face Bark River-Harris on Jan. 9 and Iron Mountain on Jan. 11.

“We definitely have some fight,” Hanson said. “We played a lot of close games, but we couldn’t overcome that 4-5 minute stretch. We have to get better.”