By JASON JUNO

Ironwood Daily Globe

IRONWOOD — The Northern Wisconsin boys came back from a 22-point halftime deficit to give the Badger state a 104-88 win over Northern Michigan in the Kiwanis Classic Border Bash held Thursday at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood.

Wisconsin’s fifth straight win certainly seemed to be in doubt as the visitors from across the border trailed big at halftime, 63-41.

Michigan made 11 3-pointers in the first half, four of them by Ironwood’s Rukus Betlewski, to help counteract Wisconsin’s size advantage.

“We really worked well fast break, we had some smaller, quicker guards,” Michigan coach Adam Mackey of Ironwood High School said. “We obviously didn’t match up well with them inside, as far as post guys go, we had a few guys who were able to get by guys, get fast-break layups, we made some 3s early on, which helped us.”

But the tide turned in the second half as Wisconsin held Michigan to just 25 points then. The Cheeseheads took the lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter and continued to pull away.

Chequamegon 6-foot-6 big man Isaiah Dietz, who was named game MVP, scored 14 of his 23 points after halftime and Northland Pines’ 6-5 Gabe Smith had nine of his 17.

“Those guys controlled the boards and got a lot of second-chance, third-chance points,” Mackey said.

“We were trying to help out in the post, trying to send two guys, but after awhile, those long quarters (13 minutes), the guys got a little tired. They were able to isolate us a little bit and they were able to finish.”

Dietz is signed to play at NCAA Division II Concordia-St. Paul and Smith at D-II Michigan Tech. Dietz dunked two basketballs, one with each hand, while in the air when he won the slam dunk contest.

“Gabe Smith from Northland Pines is an athletic freak and a great kid, all-out effort, I thought the kid gave everything he had,” Chequamegon and Northern Wisconsin coach Thomas Tollakson said. “We got him the ball inside, he runs the floor as well. He’s not just a big man, he’s very athletic.

“Isaiah really talked about getting the ball into Gabe — being selfless, I thought that was really cool.”

Tollakson said he thought it just took his team the first half to get used to playing with each other. They talked about being strong defensively and they only gave up 26 points after the break.

“We said let’s get up into people, really pressure, be aggressive. If you need a blow, we’ve got three guys on the bench ready to play,” Tollakson said. “To allow 20-some points in the second half in an all-star game is pretty crazy.

“Guys were all over the floor, a lot of blocked shots — wow — a lot of long rebounds, our guys did a great job hustling. With great defense comes good offense.”

Hurley’s Eli Talsma, who will play in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game on June 29 in Wisconsin Dells, scored 17 points, and his teammate, Dominic Croci, who will play at Wisconsin-Stout, had 14.

Being from nearby Mercer, Tollakson said it was fun watching those guys play.

“Those guys are good ballplayers and very good kids, fun to be around,” he said.

Betlewski finished with five 3s and a team-high 21 points. Kingsford’s Nic Nora, an All-U.P. Dream Team selection, had 20.

Betlewski won the 3-point contest at halftime. That didn’t surprise his high school coach, Mackey, who has seen him make a lot of long shots.

“He’s put a lot of time in, coming into the gym, working on his shot, working on his footwork, working on his follow-through,” Mackey said. “It’s no surprise he made four or five 3s in that first half and then he won that 3-point competition.”

He said it was fun to coach Betlewski and Cody Dabb one more time.

“It doesn’t matter what sport I coached them in, those guys played hard and it didn’t change tonight,” Mackey said. “I’m sure going to miss those two.”

Nora got praise from both coaches.

“He’s a great athlete, probably the reason he’s going to (Michigan) Tech to play football,” Mackey said. “He’s quick, he’s explosive; strong, very smart player.”

Mackey also liked the way North Central’s Connor Florenski and Dylan Plunger played.

“You can tell those guys have been playing basketball for awhile,” he said. “You can tell those guys play together. They play fundamentally sound, they pass the ball, they help out on defense and they hustle.”.