Red Devils win at No. 2-ranked Dollar Bay

By JASON JUNO

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DOLLAR BAY - At first glance, Ironwood's 53-49 win over Dollar Bay looks like an upset.

The Blue Bolts were the ones ranked second in the U.P. Division 4 poll coming into Thursday night's game.

But the Red Devils would be the No. 1 seed in its Division 3 district if the postseason started today. And in fact, their MPR, the formula the MHSAA uses to seed teams, is better than any D-3 or D-4 team in the U.P., except for Crystal Falls Forest Park, whom they're tied with.

"That's a good team in Ironwood," Dollar Bay coach Jesse Kentala said. "They're big, they're strong, they're well-coached, they've got good guard play. They're formidable for sure."

The Red Devils rode Nick Miskovich's big 22-point night and broke the game open in the third quarter, taking a 16-point lead into the fourth. Then they had to hang on. Dollar Bay standout Liam Tourtillott got hot from 3 - he made five and scored 16 points in the final period - and the Red Devils went ice cold at the free throw line. They missed 11 in the fourth, but made enough, 10, to withstand Dollar Bay's comeback attempt.

"It's the best game that we've played all year and it's the best team that we've played all year," Ironwood coach Adam Mackey said, "as far as we want to talk about scheme-wise, talent-wise, and guys who can flat out play basketball. This is a tough team, especially playing in this tough gym, the tight confines."

Ironwood started the fourth quarter with a 36-20 lead. It was down to one possession, 52-49, when Dollar Bay missed a 3 to tie with under 10 seconds remaining. Axton Ruotsala's free throw with 2.2 seconds left sealed a signature win for Ironwood.

"I'm proud of the guys for how well they played as a team, and at the end when momentum wasn't going our way," Mackey said. "We still stuck to it, guys were still playing hard defense. We just got to maybe work on making some free throws."

Ruotsala and Brendan McCullough made 3s for Ironwood and the game was tied at 15 in the second quarter. Miskovich scored his first points of the game, the final seven of the half for a 22-15 Ironwood lead.

He kept scoring in the second half. He scored inside twice to start the second half and Ironwood led 26-15. He got the last five of the quarter as well to give the Devils that big cushion heading into the fourth.

"Nick did a great job after getting banged up down low a few times," Mackey said. "He was able to get his composure and he was able to finish. Some of the shot attempts he takes aren't the smoothest, but he finds a way to make it, which is the name of the game. He did a tremendous job for us, especially in the second half to build that lead, so we did have that room just in case they did start making 3s."

The game plan was to get it inside, it didn't matter to who, and it was Miskovich who had an advantage inside against the Blue Bolts.

"Especially with our guys outside, we do have guys who can shoot and Axton takes an awful lot of attention. Most teams are trying to key on him," Mackey said. "So Nick's ability to score definitely helps us out."

The Blue Bolts were definitely keying on Ruotsala. They knew about Miskovich, too, but he was more aggressive looking to score than he was on the film they saw.

"He gets going for them, I think this is a dangerous Ironwood team," Kentala said. "(He) tonight was the difference maker, we had a hard time with him."

Tourtillott didn't have much luck against a fellow All-U.P. selection in Ruotsala. But he couldn't miss in the fourth quarter. He made a 3 to cut the deficit to 44-36, Ruotsala had to leave the game after hurting his knee and Tourtillott made another to make it a five-point game. He made two more, the last with 21.3 seconds left to reduce the deficit to four, 51-47. He was fouled on a 3 with 15.9 to go and he made two to make it a one-possession game for the first time in the second half.

"I knew sooner or later he was going to catch fire," Mackey said. "Axton did a great job on him. Then Axton got banged up a little bit, so we moved a new guy on him. That's how effective Axton is. He's such a great athlete, so quick, so strong, he's able to stay with most team's best scorer and shut them down for the most part."

The Devils missed two free throws, got the rebound, missed two more and kept the lead when Dollar Bay finally missed a 3, allowing Ruotsala to seal with a free throw in the final seconds.

Tourtillott finished with a game-high 24 points.

"They did a great job of taking Liam away," Kentala said. "We had to try to adjust and I don't think we did a good enough job. Our timing was really off. Even when we would get a couple screens for him, the timing was off. We got to work on that. Liam's a great player, but we gotta get other guys to contribute as well. But it was nice to see Liam get hot, it was nice to see them find him and he did what he does, which is put the ball in the hole."

Ironwood improved to 7-2. This game, and the one the next night against a good Houghton team will help prepare the Devils, Mackey said, for what will be a tough district tournament. Their biggest competition there will likely be Westwood, which is 11-3 and has wins over Iron Mountain, Negaunee and Houghton. But Ishpeming and Calumet are also good and even Jeffers is capable.

"I think overall our ability to play in these types of games, go on the road and get a quality win like we did, it does a lot," Mackey said.

"We had a lot of respect for Ironwood and what they do," Kentala said. "We're disappointed obviously, we want to win every game we play. But we'll take it on the chin, we'll learn from it and get back to the grind of it.

"We're 9-3, I like it. But if we're going to be the best, we got to beat good teams. That's why this one stings a little."

Ironwood - Evan Oja 2, Axton Ruotsala 9, Brendan McCullough 3, Nick Miskovich 22, Alec Huotari 7, Joey Lauzon 4, Landon Buerger 6. FTs: 12-28. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Ruotsala 2, McCullough 1, Miskovich 1, Huotari 1.

Dollar Bay - Caleb Kentala 12, Baron Colbert 3, Joshua Gaunt 3, Liam Tourtillott 24, Conner Laitala 2, Jackson VanDelski 5. FTs: 7-15. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Tourtillott 6, Kentala 2.

Ironwood 9 22 36 53

Dollar Bay 10 15 20 49

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HOUGHTON - Shorthanded Ironwood fell 57-47 at Houghton Friday night.

The Red Devils were without guard Axton Ruotsala, who injured his leg the night before in Dollar Bay.

"Houghton's pressure and trapping defense gave us trouble at times," Ironwood coach Adam Mackey said. "They forced us to play faster than normal, which led to turnovers and off-balance shots. With Axton not able to go tonight, it made it even more difficult.

"Overall, a good learning experience and good signs of guys stepping up to handle the ball."

Nick Miskovich hit four 3-points and led Ironwood with 21 points. Luke Hill had 20 for Houghton (11-2).

Ironwood (7-2) was to host Lake Linden-Hubbell Wednesday night with Baraga coming here Friday night.

Ironwood - Evan Oja 5, Brendan McCullough 4, Randall Kashich 5, Nick Miskovich 21, Alec Huotari 2, Robert Roberts III 4, Aiden Smith 3, Landon Buerger 3. FTs: 7-12. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Miskovich 4, Kashich 1, Oja 1, Smith 1, Buerger 1.

Houghton - Terrence Nolan 6, Isaiah Lawson 14, Luke Hill 20, Lane Laux 4, Latham Salmi 7, Timothy Brown 6. FTs: 5-10. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Nolan 2, Lawson 2, Hill 2, Brown 2.

Ironwood 7 22 37 47

Houghton 16 38 47 57