24 years in the making: Iron Mountain Mountaineers capture 1st regional title since 1994 with 56-44 win over Calumet
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“It's going to be tough but they have a goal in mind and so far we've accomplished all of those goals.” -- Harvey "Bucky" Johnson, IM head coach, on the Mountaineers wanting to reach the Breslin Center
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MARQUETTE -- Iron Mountain used a 19-point first quarter to set the tempo for the rest of the game, defeating Calumet 56-44 to win the Class C regional championship played at Marquette Senior High School on Wednesday night.
It was Iron Mountain's first regional championship in more than two decades.
The Mountaineers (23-1) advance to the state quarterfinals against Maple City Glen Lake (22-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Petoskey.
Iron Mountain head coach Harvey "Bucky" Johnson credited Calumet for a hard-fought battle and is happy his team is moving on despite not playing at its highest level.
"Calumet gave all they had," he said. "I don't think either team gave their best game. We didn't play our greatest game, but there's a lot of pressure at this stage. We're just happy to be moving on. I'm proud of my team. It's the first time since 1994 we've won a regional in Iron Mountain, so we're proud of that."
Johnson added that the road to the semifinals and finals at Michigan State University's Breslin Center doesn't get easier.
"We told them our goal was to get to the Breslin Center," he said. "Here we are, one game away. That's where these guys want to get to, so we're striving for that. Obviously we know going down to Petoskey, a quarterfinal game, you're not going to have any bad teams now. We don't know much about them (Maple City Glen Lake), but we'll have five days to learn something. We'll roll our sleeves up, get to work and see what we can find out.
"It's going to be tough but they have a goal in mind and so far we've accomplished all of those goals."
Calumet head coach Mike Ojala said he's proud of the season his team gave him and the fight they put up against the Mountaineers.
"I'm proud of these guys," he said. "We have kids that put a lot of time into basketball here. They earned it, they deserved it, they played a great district tournament, an outstanding regional semifinal game and we have nothing to be ashamed of tonight either.
"That's a hard team to guard. We went through a couple of hard series in the third quarter that made us scramble a little but I'm proud of our effort (tonight)."
Calumet bows out with an 18-6 record.
The Copper Kings quickly opened the scoring on a corner triple from sophomore Elijah McParlan. Mountaineers freshman guard Foster Wonders put the Mountaineers on the board with a jumper of his own.
Calumet senior Cooper Twardzik responded to Wonders' bucket with a layup to give his team a 5-2 lead.
It didn't take long for Iron Mountain to take the lead and keep it, going on a 9-0 run in the next few minutes to pull ahead 13-5, forcing Calumet to call a timeout.
The Copper Kings pulled within four points on a triple from junior Travis Ojala to make it 15-11, though the Mountaineers held a 19-13 advantage at the end of the first.
Iron Mountain pulled ahead by as many as 11 points, 33-22, in the second quarter, with sophomore guard Marcus Johnson getting in on the 3-point scoring.
Calumet junior Brandon Antilla ended the half with a 3 of his own, cutting the lead to eight at 33-25.
The Mountaineers got off to a fast start in the third, scoring 14 of the first 16 points of the period, including consecutive triples from Wonders to pull ahead 45-27. IM led 49-31 at the end of three.
Calumet cut the lead to 10 points, 52-42, in the fourth on back-to-back treys from Antilla and Travis Ojala.
It was to no avail, however, as the Mountaineers held on for the 12-point victory.
Wonders said contributing to the Mountaineers' first regional title in 24 years is a good feeling.
"It feels awesome," he said. "All the hard work in the off season is paying off. I couldn't be happier. I'm just ecstatic right now."
Wonders led Iron Mountain with 19 points while junior guard Charlie Gerhard added 13 and Johnson 12.
Travis
Calumet's Brandon Antilla, front, and Iron Mountain's Jaden Vicenzi battle for a loose ball in the second quarter of their Class C boys basketball regional championship game held at Marquette Senior High School on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)
Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.