Jason Juno/Daily Globe (Ironwood) Ewen-Trout Creek’s Eli Nordine chases a loose ball as Wakefield-Marenisco’s Bailey Ribich gives chase Wednesday in Republic.

REPUBLIC — Ewen-Trout Creek will play for its first district title since 2012 Friday night after beating Wakefield-Marenisco 54-46 in Wednesday night’s MHSAA Class D District 127 semifinal.

The Cardinals made 10 3-pointers to enable them to stay in the game, but the Panthers always had an answer. E-TC also had a big night on the boards and standouts Jake Witt and Austin Berglund were pivotal.

Witt had 20 points, 19 boards and seven blocks. Berglund had 17 points, 13 in the second half, and seven boards.

“I thought Austin and Jake really commanded the game in the second half,” E-TC coach Brad Besonen said.

The Panthers play Bessemer at Republic-Michigamme at 7 p.m. EST.

E-TC (13-8) lost 75-48 at Bessemer last week as the Speedboys shot over 50 percent from inside and out.

“They played a whale of a game last time, they outhustled us, they outboarded us, they just flat-out outplayed us and they shot really well that night,” Besonen said. “We need to make sure we take away shooters early and don’t give them first, nice looks. As a shooter, you hit that one and the floodgates open. We want to limit those, and collectively, we have to rebound better.”

While Bessemer is deeper, stronger and older, Besonen likes what his team brings as well.

“Don’t underestimate our scrappiness,” he said. “We might be littler, leaner and younger, but I definitely wouldn’t underestimate our crew once tournament time comes. I think we’re as feisty as anybody.”

Mason Saubert hit five three 3-pointers and led Wakefield-Marenisco with 17 points. Bailey Ribich scored 12 points.

Those 3s helped W-M stay in the game throughout the contest, but the Panthers always seemed to have an answer.

“As soon as you made a run, and it would look like things are going our way, they’d hit a 3 or Jake would get an easy bucket or something,” W-M coach Terry Fetters said. “We couldn’t get over the hump.”

W-M was 10 of 28 from behind the arc and E-TC was effective in rebounding the misses. Witt provided the Panthers’ rim protection, while he and Berglund were big on the glass.

“They were taking a lot of perimeter shots tonight and it’s hard to rebound those 3s if you don’t focus on boxing out and scrapping to those boards, so I thought rebounding was a key,” Besonen said. “I thought we rebounded really, really well. That team has hurt us on the offensive glass quite a few times. … I thought Austin was a man on the glass, Jake was really cleaning up the boards.”

E-TC won in a blowout on Feb. 28, but it was a much closer contest Wednesday night as W-M had Jacob Suzik this time. Suzik didn’t score a ton, he had four points, but he makes a big difference for the Cardinals.

Either way, Witt was a handful for the Cardinals again Wednesday night.

“They’d get some penetration there and they’d kick it out or lob it up there to Jake,” Fetters said. “He’s such a hard kid to defend. At 6-7, we just don’t have a matchup for him. We tried doubling him, but he still gets right through it and scores.”

E-TC’s Cole Borseth made two 3-pointers and Ryan Driesenga had one, which is production they’ll need Friday night.

“Cole Borseth hit a couple big 3s and Ryan had the nice 3 he hit late,” Besonen said. “Those are big shots for us because there’s so much attention on the other guys.”

W-M finished the season at 13-9. They just didn’t find a way to beat E-TC in any of the three meetings.

“The kids played well. I can’t say we didn’t have the effort here tonight,” Fetter said. “We made a game of it. I’m very proud of what we accomplished this year.”

W-M 12 11 13 10 — 46

E-TC 16 13 12 13 — 54

W-M — Bailey Ribich 12, Mason Saubert 17, Jacob Suzik 4, Shane Cole 8, Brett Heil 3, Erik Hakamaki 2. Fts: 0-2. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Ribich. 3-pointers: Saubert 5, Ribich 2, Cole 2, Heil 1.

E-TC — Jake Witt 20, Austin Berglund 17, Eli Nordine 8, Cole Borseth 6, Ryan Driesenga 3. Fts: 4-8. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Nordine 2, Borseth 2, Berglund 1, Driesenga 1.