Big week for Tupper Lake Basketball Jacks clinch East, Peterson all time scorer, Corneau hits 1,000th point
by Dick Sterling
To say the Tupper Lake Lumberjacks had a busy week would certainly be an understatement!
Last week the Jacks played league games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. They won all four, including a Friday evening showdown with Chateaugay in front of Tupper’s home crowd, that clinched the Lumberjacks first place in the Northern Athletic Conference (NAC) East Division.
The Jacks remain undefeated in the East (12-0) and have an overall record of 14-3.
In addition to the team’s exciting week, a couple of Lumberjack players also carved their way into the Tupper Lake Basketball history files.
Tom Peterson scored career point number 1,223 on Tuesday evening, earning him the distinction of becoming the top scorer in Lumberjack history.
On Friday, Mikey Corneau swished a jump shot from just inside the three-point arc, giving him 1,000 points for his career.
The home crowd cheered for Corneau at the contest against Chateaugay, early in the third quarter, was stopped so that the special moment could be captured with the presentation of a special ball and photos. As he neared the 1000-point mark at the start of the second half, many youngsters in the crowd were yelling “Mikey just need two more.”
The Jacks toughest game of the week came on Monday with a showdown against the Colton-Pierrepont Colts. The two NAC East foes played to as 13-13 draw in the first quarter, and the Colts, behind a big night from their top scorer, Eric Friedel, actually held a 27-26 lead at the intermission.
After the break, the two league foes continued to battle as Tupper Lake outscored the Colts 17-12 to hold a slim 43-39 advantage heading to the final quarter. The Jacks sharp-shooting season returned for the final eight minutes as they tallied 24 points and gave up 13, winning by a final score of 67-52, in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.
Corneau drilled seven 3-pointers and finished with 27 to lead the Jacks. Tyler LaPlante had a big game as he finished with 15 and Peterson scored 14 and dished out 11 assists. Ashton Clark scored six.
Friedel nailed six three-pointers and finished with 24 to lead Colton-Pierrepont. Nate Smith scored eight points and pulled down 14 rebounds and Cody Trimm added seven.
On Tuesday, the Lumberjacks raced to a big 18-2 advantage after one quarter against Brushton-Moira and went on to roll over the Panthers 69-27. Peterson entered the game needing 27 points to establish the new school scoring standard… he finished with 29.
Tom Peterson connected on five of his eight three-point attempts, collected six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Mikey Corneau, who also swished five of his eight three-point tries, finished with 17. Garrett Pelkey scored nine points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
Last Wednesday, the Jacks played for the third night in a row as they tangled with the St. Lawrence Central Larries. St. Lawrence surprised the Jacks as they scored the first six points of the contest, four of them from Ayden Beach, who is battling with Peterson for the East Division scoring lead. It took the Jacks three minutes to score as Peterson drove the lane for a lay-up, which ignited a 13-0 Tupper Lake run, Beach scored the last basket of the quarter as Tupper held a 13-8 advantage after one.
The two East Division rivals played even in the second quarter, trading baskets, as Tupper Lake headed to the half-time break with a 24-18 advantage. The Jacks had trouble shaking off the Larries as Beach continued scoring and St. Lawrence Central did their best to play tough defense against the Lumberjacks.
Tupper won the third quarter 16-13 and headed to the final eight minutes with a 40-31 advantage.
Peterson finally got on track offensively in the final quarter as he scored the first six of Tupper Lake’s 24 points, and finished the quarter with 13 as the Jacks outscored the Larries 24-4 in the quarter and pulled away for a 64-35 victory.
Peterson finished with 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out six assists and contributed five steals. LaPlante scored 10, Corneau added nine, Pelkey finished with eight, and led the team with 14 rebounds and Clark added eight points and finished with 10 rebounds. Sophomore Tim Peterson, Tom’s younger brother, scored his first varsity points as he connected on his only attempt, a three-pointer, with an assist going to his big brother. Beach finished with 25 points to lead the Larries. Logan Lemay added seven.
Lumberjack Head Coach Brian Bennett commented on the special moment, “the fact that Tim Peterson’s first varsity points were assisted by his brother is amazing!”
The Jacks were only called for three personal fouls in the entire game.
On Friday, the Jacks entertained the Chateaugay Bulldogs with first place in the East on the line. Tupper Lake has been the only team in the division to beat the Dogs this season, who have dominated the East Division for many years.
The Jacks opened up a 13-6 advantage after the opening quarter, but then found their shooting touch starting in the second quarter as they opened with a 12-3 run to open up a big 25-9 advantage, and closed the period with a 10-0 run to up the advantage to 35-11 at the halftime break. The Jacks fans and players were excited to see Corneau shoot the ball late in the half, knowing he was just a basket short of reaching the 1,000-point mark.
The senior sharp-shooter lined up a long jumper early in the third quarter and found nothing but net as the game was stopped long enough to honor Number 21 on his special accomplishment.
The game resumed, and so did the rout as the Jacks put up another 24 points in the quarter to extend the lead to 59-27 after three quarters and rolled to the easy win by a final score of 73-38.
Corneau paced Tupper Lake with 23 points. Peterson finished with 18, Pelkey earned another double-double as he scored 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, as the big crowd chanted “he’s a freshman,” every time the Jacks’ youngster scored.
Wyatt Godin and Clark each scored six, LaPlante finished with four and the crowd came to their feet when reserve Caleb Roberts scored the final two points of the game with a layup just beating the final horn.
Coach Bennett commented on the big week the Jacks had last week, “it was an amazing week! So many milestones. Although those boys earned those milestones this week, they were long in the making. There were so many countless hours in the gym working, when no one is watching. I have coached both Tom and Mikey since fifth grade, so it’s amazing seeing these things happen. I knew we needed more emphasis on the youth, and now look where we are today,” said the coach.
The Tupper Lake head coach also commented on winning the NAC East.
“The East is a big deal. It’s been a long time since a team besides Chateaugay or Madrid-Waddington has won the East. It’s a great accomplishment, but my eyes are on the Class C title.”
The win extended the Lumberjacks winning streak on their home floor to 17 straight games. On Monday the Jacks headed to Edwards-Knox for a non-league contest against the Cougars. Tuesday they entertained Madrid-Waddington and Friday they will wrap up the regular season with a road game at Colton-Pierrepont.
Congratulations to Coach Bennett and the Lumberjack team on an incredible season… a championship season! And let’s hope that the best is still to come for this talented group of Tupper Lake athletes.