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With district matchup looming, Dollar Bay outlasts Chassell 70-61 in final regular-season meeting

Chassell’s Elijah Soumis and Dollar Bay’s Jacob Iacono battle for a rebound Friday in Chassell. (Daily Mining Gazette/Bryce Derouin)

CHASSELL — Chassell and Dollar Bay met on the hardwood Friday in Chassell for what was essentially an audition before the March 5 grand finale between the two schools.

It was one last opportunity for fans of the respective teams to pack a gym and get a glance at what could possibly transpire when the Panthers and Blue Bolts meet for their district opener. In the end, it was a 70-61 Dollar Bay win. But the result of an essentially meaningless game pales compared to what the two biggest takeaways could mean for when the teams meet up in nine days:

• Dollar Bay can lean on its athleticism and size advantage to outrebound Chassell and win despite not playing anywhere near its best game.

• The Panthers’ signature needling style can hinder the Blue Bolts’ and all their skill players.

Chassell (11-8, 9-5) forced No. 1 Dollar Bay (18-0, 13-0) into an uncanny 16 turnovers while the winners shot just 42 percent (25 of 60) overall and 5 of 20 from 3-point range. But Dollar Bay did finish with a 44-33 rebounding advantage, including 15 offensive boards to score on second-chance opportunities to win a game the team was never truly in jeopardy of losing down the stretch.

“We know this. This is the way Chassell plays; it’s havoc,” Dollar Bay coach Jesse Kentala said. “They’re going to come after you. There’s going to be fouls. It’s almost like a war of attrition sometimes when you play up here.

“We know that’s their style, and we have to adjust to that. We can’t whine about it, we can’t blame referees. We have to look to ourselves and be stronger with the basketball.”

Unlike in Dollar Bay’s 71-52 win on Jan. 2, Chassell coach Bill Sleeman decided to test some of his full-court pressures against Dollar Bay on Friday. The Panthers picked up full court in the second half and also mixed some 2-3 zone in just to see how Dollar Bay would react.

“You don’t want to show too much, but you gotta show something so you know how they’re going to respond to certain things,” Sleeman said. “Then you know if you have to make any changes for that March 5 deadline.

“We threw a couple things, but we definitely didn’t throw everything that we planned to run. We lost, but we feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

Dollar Bay won because Chassell did not have an answer for seniors Jaden Janke or Jacob Iacono on the boards or inside. Janke finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Iacono added 16 points and 12 rebounds. The two forwards combined for 15 of the team’s 18 fourth-quarter points, allowing the Blue Bolts to keep a double-digit lead for the majority of the fourth quarter until Chassell senior Matt Tuomi swished a 3 at the buzzer.

“Second game in a row that it’s good to see Jaden go inside and do some work,” Kentala said. “I thought he went up strong, so I really liked a lot of things I saw from him. Jacob, same thing. He’s so athletic and energetic. Without them tonight, we would have been in trouble because our guard play was very, very sloppy.”

There were strange sequences spread throughout that’s typically not seen by a senior-laden Blue Bolts team. To start the second half, Dollar Bay turned it over on its first three possessions against Chassell’s 2-3 zone. Then, in the final seconds, while trying to seal the game with a 67-53 lead, Dollar Bay missed two free throws and then turned it over on three possessions in a row, allowing Chassell to cut the deficit to 67-58.

“There’s a few times we’ve done this against good teams where we take our foot off the gas,” Kentala said. “I don’t know if it’s complacency, or if they think the game is won, but we loosen up defensively. We got a week-and-a-half to iron it out.”

Senior Aaron Barnes led Chassell’s comeback with a 3 from the left wing to trim Dollar Bay’s lead to nine with 33 seconds left in the fourth. Barnes scored all 19 of his points in the second half, making 8 of his last 10 shots.

“He’s a kid that just never quits,” Sleeman said. “I wish I could have him for a couple more years. I wish he could have been aggressive like that all year long. Hopefully, this kind of triggers him for our last stretch. If he’s playing like that, it definitely helps us offensively when he can step up and play like that.”

Barnes’ heroics weren’t enough to dig Chassell out of the 36-22 halftime deficit it built. Once again, turnovers doomed the Panthers as they committed 12 miscues in the first half before turning it over just five times in the second half.

“Biggest thing we wanted to do was limit our turnovers,” Sleeman said. “We got loose in the first half and got away from what we wanted to be focused on and it cost us.”

Next, Dollar Bay visits Republic-Michigamme on Tuesday. Chassell closes the regular season at Lake Linden-Hubbell on the same day.

– – –

Dollar Bay 15 21 16 18 — 70

Chassell 13 9 17 22 — 61

Dollar Bay — LeClaire 13, Thompson 10 Schmitz 8, Janke 23, Iacono 16. F: 12; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 15-25; 3-point field goals: Thompson 2, Schmitz 2, LeClaire.

Chassell — Hokenson 4, Gockenbach 8, Barnes 19, M. Tuomi 3, Kinnunen 2, Warren 9, Kytta 6, Soumis 10. F: 21; Fouled out: Soumis; Free throws: 8-10; 3-point field goals: Kytta 2, Warren, M. Tuomi, Barnes.

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