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Bigger Ishpeming Hematites boys basketball team races past Calumet, 71-53

CALUMET — Ishpeming had a little too much size for the Calumet Copper Kings Monday night in West PAC Silver Division play.

The Hematites (6-10) used that advantage to hammer out a 71-53 win.

“We view ourselves as a big physical team, it’s just the way we play,” Ishpeming head coach George Niemi said. “It was our game plan to use our size.”

Doing the most damage for the Marquette County crew was senior Jacob Kugler, who dumped in 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Senior teammates Breck Bell and Gavin Argall also hit double figures with Bell collecting 17 points and Argall 15.

Niemi said his team had one of its best nights of the season shooting the ball.

“We were pretty accurate from 3-point range and we shot our free throws really well,” Niemi said. “It was a good shooting night.”

Calumet coach Frank Bonacorsi said the physical edge enjoyed by the Hematites made the difference.

“We pinpointed Kugler as their leader. It was that way in football, too. And he did a lot of damage inside and outside.”

Ishpeming grabbed the edge in the first quarter at 16-11 and held it throughout.

It was a was a 28-17 game at the half.

“We just never got going on offense,” Bonacorsi said. “We were a step slow all nght.”

Ishpeming quickly upped the margin to 20 points, then slowly moved away.

Calumet made a couple of runs later in the game as Trevor Torola and Elijah McParlan sparked the offense. But the margin built up by the Hematites was too much to overcome.

Free throws also played a crucial role in the victory, with Ishpeming going 25 of 30 at the line for 83 percent. Calumet was 12 of 22 for just 54 percent.

The Copper Kings (5-10) were led by Torola with 15 points. McParlan was held to 12 points, although he grabbed 11 rebounds.

Ishpeming hosts Gwinn (3-13) on Wednesday.

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