ONTONAGON — Bessemer got the close win it needed, but it was at the expense of Ontonagon, which seems to be snake bit at this point of the season.

The Speedboys beat the Gladiators 55-49 Thursday night in Copper Mountain Conference boys basketball. Bessemer was coming off hard-fought losses to Dollar Bay and Ewen-Trout Creek, while Ontonagon remains winless despite pushing good teams like E-TC, Dollar Bay, Calumet and now Bessemer.

“We finally won a close one,” Bessemer coach Richard Matrella said. “It could have went either way. It was nip and tuck the whole game. … They’re replacing a huge scorer (Mitchell Borseth) for them last year, they’re still looking at who’s going to do what. We’re replacing four people, three starters from last year. It takes a while to figure out who’s going to do what.

“Ontonagon’s the best 0-4 team in the U.P., probably.”

Bessemer’s Brayden Tomes scored 22 of his game-high 26 points in the second half.

“Besides make shots obviously, I think the best thing he did, he rebounded, he got on the offensive boards,” Matrella said. “They really concentrated on Tyler (Busch), keeping him off the boards. Brayden got three big offensive rebounds, made three big 3s in the second, and he made his free throws. He scored 12 points in that third quarter when Tyler was on the bench and we really needed those 12 points. Ontonagon was scoring every time they came down the court. Brayden kind of took over there and scored every time down the court.”

Cade Mazzon had nine of his 13 in the first half for Bessemer. Matrella said Jared Janczak had a good game on the boards and he made free throws.

Ed Polakowski had 19 points to lead Ontonagon.

“Ed had a big second half. He really got on the boards for them. We struggled, they’re bigger than us and Tyler got in foul trouble,” Matrella said.

Ontonagon (0-5, 0-3) goes to Watersmeet on Jan. 4. Bessemer (2-3, 2-2) hosts Republic-Michigamme on Jan. 4.

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Bessemer 11 12 18 14 — 55

Ontonagon 4 13 20 12 — 49

Bessemer – Cade Mazzon 13, Uriah Aili 4, Jared Janczak 5, Tim Rowe 4, Brayden Tomes 26, Tyler Busch 3. FTs: 13-19. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Tomes 3, Mazzon 1.

Ontonagon – Ed Polakowski 19, Jaden Weisinger 7, James Domitrovich 5, Brendan Buzzo 8, Henry Menigoz 6, Tanner Balcomb 4. FTs: 10-17. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: D. Pollard. 3-pointers: Weisinger 1, Menigoz 2.