Negaunee’s Dre Tuominen shoots against Calumet in a Class C regional semifinal game on Monday night in Escanaba. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Adam Niemi)

“Getting an early lead definitely helps. That makes it kind of hard for an opponent to fight back, although they sure tried.“ — Trent Bell, senior forward, Negaunee Miners

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ESCANABA — The Negaunee boys had every intention of setting the pace in a Class C basketball regional semifinal on Monday night and did just that in a 65-43 triumph over Calumet at Escanaba High School.

The victory sends the Miners (19-4) to the 7 p.m. Wednesday regional championship game where they’ll meet Iron Mountain (20-3) for the third time this season. Those teams split their first two meeting in the Mid-Peninsula Conference.

Negaunee, showing plenty of speed in transition on Monday, raced to a 12-0 lead through the opening 4:10.

“We were afraid they would try to slow it down,” Negaunee coach Dan Waterman said. “We wanted to play at a fast pace and an early lead gives your kids confidence and allows them to play a little more free.”

Calumet (17-6) got on the board with 2:56 left in the opening quarter on a 21-foot jump shot from the left wing by sophomore guard Matt Ojala.

Ojala added a 23-foot jumper from the left wing to bring Calumet within 16-8 with 1:15 left in the period.

A putback by 6-foot-7 senior center Trent Bell put the Miners up 18-8 with 33 seconds left in the first and a fastbreak layup by senior forward Darius Provost made it 20-8 in the waning seconds of the quarter.

“I wasn’t happy with the way we defended the ball,” Waterman said. “I thought they had too much dribble penetration, and they were able to kick the ball back out to their shooters.”

Senior guard Wyatt Loukus opened the second stanza by trimming Calumet’s deficit to 20-11 on a 22-foot jumper from the right wing.

The Miners responded with five unanswered points, gaining a 25-11 cushion on a free throw by Bell midway through the second.

Calumet got within 10 points (29-19) on a 24-foot jumper from the right wing by Loukus with 1:30 left in the second. Negaunee, however, didn’t allow the Copper Kings to get any closer.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted, especially on the defensive end,” said Bell, who finished with 22 points. “They have some big dudes. But once we get the ball inside, we can kick it out and our guards can usually hit the 3s.

“Getting an early lead definitely helps. That makes it kind of hard for an opponent to fight back, although they sure tried. No. 4 (Ojala) and 5 (Loukus) can definitely shoot. We got a little comfortable with where we were.”

Negaunee wasted little time adding to its lead in the third quarter, going on a 13-3 run for a 46-24 advantage on junior Jacob Ennett’s running five-foot jumper from the baseline with 3:07 remaining.

Senior Dre Tuominen added 15 points for the Miners, who committed nine turnovers.

“In an uptempo game, anything under 10 is good,” Waterman said. “Trent did a nice job and our guards did a good job getting the ball to him. Trent is a difference maker. He can finish with either hand.”

Matt Ojala paced the Copper Kings with 14 points. Loukus had 13.

“We have two kids who can hit from outside, but neither got hot tonight,” Calumet coach Mike Ojala said. “We have to credit Negaunee’s defense for that. Bell makes it tough to get inside. We had good shots, only they didn’t fall. Falling behind 12-0 is not the way you want to start a game.”