Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By JASON JUNO
Ironwood --- Gogebic has a tough draw as they head to North Dakota this weekend for the NJCAA Division II Region 13 tournament.
The Samsons start with tournament host United Tribes Saturday at 2 p.m. If they win that, they advance to Sunday’s Region championship game where they’d play the winner of the tournament-favorite DCTC vs. Dakota College at Bottineau semifinal.
United Tribes enters the postseason with a 15-12 record. They got to host the tournament by earning the West’s No. 1 seed with three wins over Dakota College at Bottineau. (It was a West’s team’s turn to host the tournament.)
UT averages 85.1 points per game. Sophomore forward Cayden Redfield leads them with 20.3 points per game and freshman guard Houston Davis is at 17.9 a game. Redfield leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game and Davis isn’t far behind at 6.4.
Dakota College at Bottineau scores 81.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Brendan Redhead averages 23.1 per game and sophomore guard Max Groom is at 19.7.
“Both North Dakota teams are talented,” Gogebic coach Dennis Mackey said. “Each ND team plays an up-tempo and fast-paced style.”
DCTC has won the Region 13 title 9 of the last 10 years since Gogebic won the 2013 championship — their only blemish coming when they didn’t take part in the tourney during the 2021 COVID season.
“DCTC is the defending champ,” Mackey said. “In my opinion, DCTC is the favorite to win again.”
DCTC enters the tournament at 16-10. They swept Gogebic with 99-68 and 100-48 victories. They haven’t played either of the North Dakota teams.
DCTC also scores a lot, they average 83.6 points per game. Sophomore guard Manny Montgomery, an All-American two years ago, averages the most of anyone in the Region at 27.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guards Jeremy Wanguhu and Devin Newsome score 16.1 and 11 points per game, respectively.
It’s tough to pick against them in this year’s tournament.
“This year’s team once again has solid depth featuring length, speed and toughness,” Mackey said. “The 2023-24 DCTC team has one of the best players in NJCAA DII, Manny Montgomery.”
Gogebic looks to compete for a title, and they’re hoping to get healthy in order to do that.
“The Samsons face a tough task ahead in the Region 13 tournament,” Mackey said. “If we can get healthy, our chances will improve greatly. My goals include winning the rebound battle and minimizing turnovers. Obviously, we need to make shots as well. If we can score in the 80s, I feel our chances improve in any game we play.”
Gogebic finished the regular season at 11-19.
“The Samsons have experienced a tough season,” Mackey said. “At full strength, we’re competitive with most teams. Unfortunately, we’ve been frustrated with injuries to key players throughout the season. Each of our original starting five (Jaden Borseth, Kadin Baxter, Braxton Sbraggia, Cori Johnson and Eli Talsma) has missed at least two games due to health reasons. It’s difficult to develop continuity with so many lineup changes. I do credit our players — they’ve remained positive and continue to work at improving their games. These guys enjoy playing basketball and want to compete.”
GCC is led by freshman Eli Talsma, one of the top players in the Region. He’s averaging a team-best 23.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He returned from an ankle injury that caused him to miss two games to score 20 points in a loss to Rainy River Saturday. Braxton Sbraggia also missed time with an ankle injury suffered in the same game and he was hobbled by a similar problem late in Saturday’s contest.
Jaden Borseth has averaged 12.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Talsma and Borseth been the top players this year, Mackey said.
“Being cousins and getting to play together at Gogebic makes for a neat story,” Mackey said. “In high school, both players experienced state-tournament appearances while becoming the all-time leading scorers at their respective high schools (Talsma at Hurley and Borseth at Ewen-Trout Creek).
“One more tidbit, Jaden’s mom, and Eli’s aunt, Heather, was a key player for me as Gogebic’s coach in 1994-95 when the Lady Samsons competed in the 16-team NJCAA national championship tournament in Tyler, Texas.”
Talsma has wow’d fans and opposing coaches, even Mackey, in his freshman season with the Samsons.
“Eli Talsma has been as good or better a player than I expected coming out of high school. More importantly, he’s not only a talented basketball player but a very good person as well,” Mackey said. “Eli has had a very good season for the Samsons. He’s a competitor who is willing to put in extra time to improve his game.
“Not having him early in the season for two games, due to certification training he was required to attend, and then losing him to injury early in the Itasca game, which sidelined him for 35 minutes of that game and for games at NCTC and Vermilion, probably cost our team opportunities to win a few more games. He’s such an integral part of our team, being our leading scorer and rebounder.”
Borseth is their most-consistent outside shooter, Mackey said. He’s 72 of 192 (37.5%) from 3 this season.
“He’s got a quick release and he’s big enough to shoot over most perimeter defenders,” Mackey said. “Jaden has what I refer to as basketball smarts. He just understands how to play the game. He does some of everything for the team and helps his teammates be better. If I have one complaint about Jaden, he is too unselfish at times and passes up many shots that I prefer he attempt.”
GCC’s other main players have been big for them as well.
“Braxton Sbraggia is our best post player,” Mackey said. “He’s a very good passer out of the post, at times I feel he passes too much as we need him to score inside. The Samsons are a better team when Braxton gets touches in the post.
“Matt DiGiorgio has improved a lot this year. He’s long and athletic and has been one of our better ball handlers late in the season. Primarily our sixth man, Matt has started several games this year as well.
“Cori Johnson has primarily played the point guard for us in 2023-24. He’s the quickest player we have and has often been one of our top scorers.
“Kadin Baxter has improved his ball handling skills a lot as the year progressed. Unfortunately, Kadin struggled with health issues for the entire season. When healthy, Kadin has the tools to be a very good player at this level.”
The bench players have also helped them.
“Antonio Delfavero is a very good shooter who has shown he can compete at this level of play,” Mackey said. “Bradyn Pieper and Kevin Frazier have provided perimeter scoring and ball handling. Von Lyons brings energy and defensive intensity. Matt Stanic and Maksym Sviderskiy have provided interior depth and solid rebounding.”
