Red Devils withstand Purple Hornets 3-point barrage

IRONWOOD - L'Anse didn't have much of an answer for Ironwood inside, but with the 3-point shot falling, the Purple Hornets were able to give the much taller Red Devils a scare.

Ironwood survived, thanks in part to shooting 16 of 20 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, for a 58-48 victory Monday in a MHSAA Class C District 96 semifinal.

"I thought we were rusty," said coach Pete Lewinski, whose Devils hadn't played since a Feb. 24 win over Wakefield-Marenisco. "Maybe their fine play had something to do with that."

The Devils (18-3) host Calumet (13-8) in Wednesday's final at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

The Purple Hornets (10-10) were torching the nets so often in the first quarter, their net had to be repaired before the second period could start. They shot 4 of 8 from behind the arc to lead the favored Devils 17-13.

L'Anse cooled from there, shooting 4 of 18 from 3 the rest of the way. The Hornets made just enough to stay close, but they needed the net-torching pace of the first quarter to pull off the upset.

"The first half, we really followed our game plan to a tee," L'Anse coach Michael Ostermeyer said. "We thought we had a couple matchups where we could penetrate, but it's hard to get inside against Ironwood. We knew we had to shoot 3s well, and in the first half, we did. I think our legs got a little tired in the second half and we were short on some. I'm proud of my team, it was a good effort."

L'Anse led 26-23 at halftime, adding two more triples in the second quarter.

"We were thinking, hopefully we could weather the storm and maybe they would cool off a little bit," Ironwood coach Pete Lewinski said. "Second half they didn't shoot as well, I don't think. Was it because they just cooled off or did our defense have something to do with it? I don't know. But we were fortunate enough to win."

The Red Devils scored the first six points of the second half to take a 29-26 lead not even two minutes into the third.

Ironwood carried a 38-33 lead into the fourth.

The Devils made their first 10 free throws of the fourth quarter to help build a 52-42 lead with 1:48 left.

L'Anse scored four straight to pull back within six, 52-46, with 1:06 left. Ironwood went 1 of 4 from the line after that before Jake DiGiorgio grabbed a rebound on the third miss and made both himself to make it 55-46. L'Anse ran out of answers after that.

Luke Hewitt was 4 for 4 and Denver Sharrow was 3 of 4 at the line in the fourth when Ironwood 80 percent from the line.

"That's what you have to do," Lewinski said. "We got in the bonus. Seniors, Luke Hewitt stepped up. That was clutch. They stayed in that 2-3 zone most of the game. We have to execute our offense better. We got a seven-point lead with 4, 4:30, 5 minutes, I believe. We pulled them out and made them go man. I didn't think they could handle us in man. Then we started to turn the clock, running our offense without shooting the ball and that's when they had to foul us. We made them play with knocking down our free throws."

Ironwood senior Matt Dary (6-4) returned from a health issue and scored eight points. He made outside shots with L'Anse focusing on Jake DiGiorgio inside and Denver Sharrow battling the flu.

"It felt great; it was huge," Dary said. "Being out for so long, my senior year, I didn't want to miss anymore time. I had to come up and play big and I think it's exactly what I did. We played a great game. They tested us the whole game. We stood our ground and handled their challenge."

"I thought Matt Dary had a very good game in his first game back after missing seven games with his illness," Lewinski said. "Matt is a big body in there, 6-4, one inch shorter than Jake, maybe just as tall. Matt has the perimeter shot, a 12 to 15 footer."

Jake DiGiorgio led Ironwood with 23 points, including 11 points in the fourth quarter when he made 9 of 10 from the line.

"We were worried about Sharrow and DiGiorgio, but as the game went on, they did a much better job of getting it inside against our zone," Ostermeyer said.

DiGiorgio led Ironwood with 13 rebounds as the Devils outrebounded L'Anse 31-16.

"We got good play out of Colin Clausen and Luke Hewitt from the point position," Lewinski said. "DiGiorgio and Dary played well for us. (Jared) Sobolewski was battling tonight, tipping the ball out."

Sharrow wasn't 100 percent, but he gutted it out, Lewinski said.

"One and done you have to do that come tournament time and Denver's a competitor and a fine player," he said.

L'Anse's Raymond Miron had a team-high in 3s (three) and points (15). Cody Clement scored 11.

Ironwood plays Calumet in the district title game for the second year in a row. The Devils won on Calumet's home floor then and are favored to win at home this time.

"We're going to have to play much better on Wednesday if we want to win this district," Lewinski said. "It's going to be a dogfight. Coach (Mike) Ojala, his teams play hard. They have two good shooters in (Jack) Hyrkas and (Samuel) Kariniemi. They have (Russ) Bjorn, a football-type player inside and (Nathan) Pieti, who's listed at 6-2, but he's probably closer to 6-4."

L'Anse - Raymond Miron 15, Jonny DesLaurier 7, Cody Clement 11, Trevor Uren 8, Aaron Collin 2, Brett Mattson 5. FTs: 12-13. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Mattson. 3-pointers: Miron 3, Uren 2, Clement 2, DesLaurier 1.

Ironwood - Denver Sharrow 10, Luke Hewitt 7, Colin Clausen 4, Jake DiGiorgio 23, Jared Sobolewski 6, Matt Dary 8. FTs: 22-30. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Sharrow 1, Hewitt 1.

L'Anse 17 26 33 48

Ironwood 13 23 38 58