The final score for the game was 62-60 for an Alpena win after going into overtime.

When asked about the last message to the seniors, Evan Neff said, “If nothing else, I knew every night they were going to play extremely hard for me. I respect them a lot. It’s a fun group of personalities.”

The seniors, Andrew Bebout, Connor Cameron, Owen Kaiser, Carson Najmowicz, and Oliver Duthler, all got to play starting positions in honor of the senior night.

Early in the first quarter, the game was tied 4-4, but Duthler scored two putting them in the lead.

News Photo by Cassandra VanHorn Carson Najmowicz shoots the ball on Thursday night during the Alpena High School boys basketball game against Kalkaska. It was Senior Night and the Wildcats took the win.

Kalkaska gained a lead following and maintained it for the rest of the first quarter.

The score after the first quarter was 11-9 for Kalkaska.

Eddie Prue and Cameron both score two-pointers following each other, Kalkaska answered with their own and maintained a tie with Alpena.

Najmowicz scored a two-pointer, continuing the tied game.

The halftime score was 30-28 for Kalkaska, Alpena lingering behind in points the whole quarter.

News Photo by Cassandra VanHorn Connor Cameron takes a shot during Thursday night’s basketball game where Alpena played Kalkaska. The Wildcats came out on top after overtime, 62-60.

A technical foul was then called on Kalkaska, allowing Cameron to score two free throws for the team.

During the third quarter, Prue scored point after point for the team. Duthler and Cameron also were the main scorers for the quarter.

At the end of the third quarter, it was 46-41 with an Alpena lead.

For the fourth quarter, Kalkaska caught up to Alpena and the two teams battled back and forth scoring points.

In the last 10 seconds, Kalkaska scored a two-pointer, putting them in another tie and sending the game into overtime.

“I felt confident,” Neff said about going into overtime. “I told them we had more minutes to play basketball and have fun.”

The teams continued to tie in overtime until Cameron stole the ball from Kalkaska and got sent to the line twice in a row, allowing Alpena to push forward.

Duthler took the last shot, winning the game at the last second with a two-pointer putting the score 62-60 for Alpena.