Devils survive Speedboys in districts

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

Ewen --- Ironwood beat Bessemer by double figures in both of its regular-season matchups. The tournament matchup, of course, turned out to be more difficult.

But the Red Devils survived for a 47-44 win in Monday night’s MHSAA Division 4 District 97 opener.

“Anytime you’re playing in the playoffs, anytime you’re playing against a rival, anything can happen and tonight it was a close game throughout,” Ironwood coach Adam Mackey said. “I’m proud of the guys the way they played, Bessemer, coach (Richard) Matrella, you’ve got to give credit to those guys. He got those guys ready to play.”

Ironwood hadn’t seen the junk defense the Speedboys employed to take Ironwood standout Axton Ruotsala away. The box-and-one held Ruotsala to two points, but it didn’t result in a win because his teammates picked up the scoring slack. Typically Ruotsala, Kurt Bissell and Nick Miskovich lead Ironwood in scoring, but it was Landon Buerger with 11 points Monday night. Bissell had 10 and seven players scored in all with every one of them outscoring Ruotsala.

“At the end of the day, I’m gonna make other people beat you,” Matrella said, “see how you respond and his team responded well. Guys hit shots that normally weren’t used to taking shots.

“(Ruotsala’s) a good ballhandler. We just wanted to keep the ball out of his hands and make him work, which we did. At the end of the night, they were able to score enough points. They had enough around him and that’s what you’ve got to do.”

Mackey was happy how his team responded.

“The defense they played, triangle and two, box and one, it was a little different, first time we saw it all year,” Mackey said. “But at the same time, it gave other guys opportunities to step up and I think we got some great contributions tonight.”

The Speedboys competed from the start, taking a 9-3 lead right off the bat and they kept it close throughout by getting some easy baskets inside. Ironwood took a 24-21 halftime lead, but Bessemer kept it nip-and-tuck throughout the third quarter and trailed 36-35 heading into the fourth.

“Leland Hollenbeck, Devin Carlson, I thought both guys were effective,” Mackey said. “But most importantly, their guards, Tommy Trudgeon, the Harju brothers (Gabe and Cayden), those guys were able to get inside, break us down a few times, they were able to get close shots, they were able to find the big guys down low for open layups.”

Ironwood got a little bit of separation early in the fourth quarter and it was the difference.

Miskovich hit a 3 to start the scoring and Landon Boyd made one as Ironwood took a 44-37 lead. Ruotsala found Bissell for an easy layup to make it 46-38.

Bessemer didn’t go away, but they weren’t able to get it to a one possession game again until they made a free throw with 8.1 seconds left.

Trudgeon led Bessemer with 15 points.

Bessemer finished the season at 8-15, but the young Speedboys were more competitive in the second half of the season. Ironwood improved to 15-8 and advanced to the district semifinal against Ewen-Trout Creek, which was to be played on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The winner was to advance to Friday night’s final in Ewen at 7 p.m. EST.

Ironwood --- Kurt Bissell 10, Axton Ruotsala 2, Brendan McCullough 8, Nick Miskovich 7, Elijah Sprague 3, Landon Boyd 6, Landon Buerger 11. FTs: 7-18. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Boyd 2, McCullough 1, Miskovich 1, Buerger 1, Sprague 1.

Bessemer --- Tommy Trudgeon 15, Cayden Harju 3, Landon Peterson 6, Gus Matrella 4, Gabe Harju 2, Leland Hollenbeck 8, Devin Carlson 6. FTs: 5-11. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Trudgeon 3, Peterson 1, Hollenbeck 1.

Ironwood 13 24 36 47

Bessemer 15 21 35 44