EAST LANSING — Before Thursday’s Division 4 Semifinal, the Munising boys basketball team already had matched school history.

By the time the game was over, these Mustangs had made their own.

For the first time, Munising will play for a state championship in basketball following a 55-44 win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney. 

Munising was making its first trip to the Semifinals since 1954, when the team was led by Chuck Nebel, the grandfather of this season’s Mustangs leading scorer – senior guard Kane Nebel. 

Needless to say, it’s been a run that has the Munising community buzzing. 

“I think  somebody told the last person that left to turn off the lights,” Munising head coach Terry Kienitz joked about the amount of fans that made the trip to Breslin Center from the town of about 2,000 residents. 

Nebel was the biggest reason why his squad will go a step farther than his grandfather’s. 

He finished with a game-high 21 points, and more importantly, took charge at a time when Munising was staggering. 

The Mustangs (26-1) held a 27-13 lead at halftime, but saw Cardinal Mooney come out inspired in the second half, cutting the lead to 33-31 with 1:29 left in the third. 

That’s when Nebel took over. 

Over the final 1:29 of the third and the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter, Nebel scored 12 consecutive points for his team, helping the Mustangs push their lead back to 45-35 with 3:30 remaining in the game. 

Nebel had two runners in the lane, back-to-back 3-pointers and made a pair of three throws to comprise his run. 

“That’s the goal, is to be a three-level scorer if you can,” Nebel said. “Getting to the bucket and getting down range is what makes people toughest to guard.” 

Cardinal Mooney head coach Mike McAndrews acknowledged that seemed to be a turning point. 

“We certainly thought the momentum in the basketball game had shifted to our favor,” McAndrews said. “We made a run, cut it to two, made some plays and we were digging in defensively. Credit to their kids. They made some really tough baskets in order to sustain our run. We could never get back to that two, three, four-point mark again.”

From there, Munising took care of the ball well enough and made free throws to prevent any sort of a rally down the stretch from Cardinal Mooney. 

“It is so great to give back to the community and bring that home,” Kienitz said of the Semifinal win. “Now, we are in uncharted territory.” 

Sophomore Carson Kienitz scored 12 points, and sophomore Trevor Nolan added 11 for Munising. 

Senior Trent Rice scored 19 points to lead Cardinal Mooney (16-12), which made quite a run in the tournament after going 11-11 during the regular season. 

“I’m certainly proud of my group of guys,” McAndrews said. “Apparently midnight struck on Cinderella.” 

Munising held a 15-11 lead after the first quarter and controlled the second quarter, opening on a 10-0 run to take a 25-11 lead with 2:12 until halftime. 

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Munising’s Trevor Nolan (5) protects the ball while Cardinal Mooney’s Dominic Cattivera defends. (Middle) The Mustangs’ Cully Trzeciak (14) works to get up a shot over Ryan Trombley.