Dollar Bay's Jaden Janke (22) drives to the basket as Bessemer's Tyler Busch defends Monday night at the House of Noise in Bessemer. (Jason Juno/Daily Globe (Ironwood))

BESSEMER — Dollar Bay played fearlessly against three-time state champion North Central in last year’s regional, losing by only two points.

But here the Blue Bolts were in the House of Noise Monday night, rattled, against a physical Bessemer team beating them on the boards and beating them on the scoreboard. The Speedboys led by as many as 14 points in the first half.

Then they finally tied it, 58-58, with just under three minutes on the clock. And leading scorer Devin Schmitz fouled out. 

This time, the Blue Bolts showed that composure everybody saw at Negaunee’s Lakeview Gym in March.

They made enough free throws and enough plays down the stretch to spoil the Speedboys’ upset bid with a 65-58 nonconference win.

“This place is a unique place and it’s easy to get rattled in here,” Dollar Bay coach Jesse Kentala said. “Actually credit Bessemer, we got rattled early.

“Down the stretch, we kept our composure, we hit a couple clutch shots. Jaden Janke came up big. We’re always confident in ourselves and our abilities. We’ve been around long enough to be confident in who we are, our system and the way we play.”

But his team still trailed most of the night, it still needed to take advantage of Bessemer missing some free throws and having even worse foul trouble.

“All around, it was a really, I thought, poor showing, by our guys,” Kentala said. “We’re fortunate to get the win. Escape is the word I used.”

Dollar Bay scored first and then trailed much of the evening. A big reason for that was Tyler Busch, who led Bessemer with 22 points as the 6-5 junior dominated the offensive glass much of the night.

But the Speedboys stopped controlling the boards in the decisive fourth quarter when Dollar Bay outscored them 21-9. That wasn’t their only downfall in the fourth — they lost guards Cade Mazzon and Brayden Tomes to fouls and they were just 3 of 11 at the free-throw line.

“In the fourth quarter, when it came down to getting the loose balls and the rebounds off the glass — where our energy had been above theirs I felt for the first three quarters for the most part — I felt especially towards the end of the fourth quarter, they got the key rebounds, they got the key loose balls,” Bessemer coach Richard Matrella said.

Schmitz finished with 24 points to lead Dollar Bay and Janke scored 23 points, including five 3-pointers. He had 17 in the second half.

The Speedboys led 53-44 with 6:50 left on a 3-point play by Busch. The lead was still 56-49 when the Blue Bolts went on a pivotal 6-0 run. Schmitz drove to the hoop, something the shifty guard excels at, Janke made two free throws after securing an offensive rebound and Schmitz hit a pull-up jumper in transition to pull within 56-55 with about four minutes on the clock.

After Mazzon got a 2 to fall, Janke hit a 3 to tie the game at 58 with just under three minutes to go.

But just as the Blue Bolts finally came all the way back to tie it, Schmitz fouled out. Bessemer didn’t take advantage, as it missed both free throws and things kept getting worse for the Speedboys.

Mazzon fouled out and Brenden LeClaire made a free throw to give the Blue Bolts their first lead since it was 2-0, 59-58. The Speedboys got back to the line and missed both. Tomes fouled out.

“You’re talking two of the lead guards from last year,” Matrella said of Tomes and Mazzon. “I would have rather had my two than their one (Schmitz) on the court. Don’t get me wrong, him fouling out was big, but Brayden and Cade fouling out are two to his one and they still had Janke.”

Dollar Bay took 1 minute, 23 seconds off the clock before getting fouled by Bessemer. A different Janke, Ashton, a sophomore, made them both with 55.2 seconds left, giving Dollar Bay its largest lead of the night thus far, 61-58.

“Ashton had some clutch, clutch minutes for us tonight,” Kentala said. 

Bessemer missed a 3 to tie, Jaden Janke got the rebound, LeClaire hit a free throw to make it a two-possession game and the Blue Bolts iced it from there. 

While the Blue Bolts prevailed, Busch had a big night for Bessemer, scoring 14 of his 22 in the first half.

He got one of his many offensive boards and made two free throws after being fouled on the putback attempt. That gave Bessemer its biggest lead of the game, 30-16 with 4:43 left in the first half.

“He played great,” Kentala said. “All game I was screaming, ‘Guard pressure,’ ‘Weak-side help,’ ‘Strong-side digs’ from our guards. Over and over and over again, he wrecked us. Give that young man credit, he played a heck of a game.”

Bessemer had the advantage much of the night in what was a physical game with 49 total fouls called.

“I’ve never played such a physical team before,” Jaden Janke said. “Every time we play them, we need to prepare harder for their rebounds. We came out of the gate way too soft. That’s just us as a team, we got to play tougher, we can’t let that happen.”

Dollar Bay stayed in the game to set up its late run with solid play from Schmitz.

“I still don’t feel there’s a guard in the U.P. who can guard Devin Schmitz,” Kentala said. “Devin didn’t shoot it real well tonight, but he did break guys down off the bounce, he was able to get to the free-throw line a bunch. He did things Devin does, but it was a team effort.”

Dollar Bay kept its composure down the stretch, even without Schmitz. It shouldn’t be too surprising, considering the way the team went toe-to-toe with eventual state champion North Central last year.

“But there’s a lot of early woes here,” Kentala said. “We’ve got a lot of things to clean up and get better at, press and pressure. Our press was really, really non-existent tonight. Credit Bessemer. Our rebounding still needs work. Our composure, we were taking rushed shots in the first half.”

Tomes finished with 11 points for Bessemer. Ashton Janke also scored 11.

It doesn’t get any easier for Bessemer (1-2), which welcomes Jake Witt and Ewen-Trout Creek to town Friday night. Dollar Bay (2-0) goes to Ontonagon.

“I’ll take positives because we’re starting to look more like the team I expect us to look like,” Matrella said. “But we have to clean up some of the sloppiness with the ball and the needless fouling.”

– – –

Dollar Bay 11 20 13 21 — 65

Bessemer 18 18 13 19 — 58

Dollar Bay – Brenden LeClaire 5, Brandon Thompson 1, Ashton Janke 11, Devin Schmitz 24, Jaden Janke 23, Israel Nelson 1. FTs: 26-39. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Schmitz, Thompson. 3-pointers: J. Janke 5, A. Janke 2.

Bessemer – Cade Mazzon 8, Andy Aspinwall 2, Uriah Aili 5, Isaiah Aili 9, Nick Trudgeon 5, Brayden Tomes 11, Tyler Busch 22. FTs: 11-26. Fouls: 28. Fouled out: Mazzon, Tomes. 3-pointers: U. Aili 1, Trudgeon 1, Tomes 1.