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Boys Basketball: Jets upset Dollar Bay, 49-47

Jeffers' Lance Heinonen (5) and Austin Kinnunen (3) celebrate after defeating Dollar Bay-Tamarack City 49-47 on Friday, March 6, 2020, in Dollar Bay, Mich. (Adam Niemi/The Daily Mining Gazette)

DOLLAR BAY — Isaiah Frahm took the game into his hands, scoring 15 points to help the Jeffers Jets hand Dollar Bay-Tamarack City its first home loss of the season, 49-47, on Friday.

The Jets (14-6), with Frahm’s help, made key shots down the stretch while the Blue Bolts didn’t. Jeffers held Dollar Bay’s push at the end to hand the Blue Bolts their first home loss of the season. It was also Dollar Bay’s second loss in a week after falling at Chassell on Feb. 28.

“We’ve known that we’d have to have Dollar Bay in the playoffs all year,” Jeffers head coach Trent Keteri said. “We’ve been talking about it since mid-summer pretty much. We’ve been getting in the mindset to play them. Tough coming here with this crowd. We’ve been practicing the last four weeks straight for Dollar Bay, so we still got them next week in the playoffs. We hit shots but we played really, really good defense up top.”

Frahm drilled a 3-pointer shortly after a timeout for a 49-43 lead with 1:35 remaining in the game for the dagger.

“I told them before that timeout that I don’t want him shooting a 3 if he’s open,” Keteri said. “He goes and nails it. When he shot it, it was a good shot and I know he can make it, but he put it in. That was a big shot.”

The Blue Bolts (18-2) struggled to find an open shot and passed around the perimeter as time ran down. Dollar Bay missed three 3-point attempts but put up a couple inside shots to tighten the score. Jeffers played keep-away with the ball, forcing Dollar Bay to foul until a full-length inbound pass across the court turned into a loose ball and the clock expired, sending Jets players and fans alike into a jubilant celebration.

Blue Bolts head coach Jesse Kentala knows his team will have another shot at the Jets soon enough. Both teams face each other in the Division 4 District 98 semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Painesdale. Baraga awaits the winner of Lake Linden-Hubbell at Chassell for the other semifinal matchup.

“Kind of a weird way to end the season, knowing you’re going to play this team again in less than a week,” Dollar Bay head coach Jesse Kentala said. “Just trying to maybe not show too much, but be competitive. Of course we’re trying to win and just trying to get better.”

For Jeffers, the win was a relief considering the Jets missed a handful of layups early to start the game. Both teams traded leads until the Jets rallied late in the second quarter and led 27-20 at halftime.

“We started out missing five layups right away,” Keteri said. “But over the time, we hit a lot of big, big 3s at the end. Dollar Bay kept coming back and back and back. We would hit a 3, and those 3s kept on pushing for us.”

Keteri said a key to Friday’s win was about limiting Dollar Bay’s top talent.

“We wanted their two guys — their four and five guys — to beat us,” Keteri said. “At the end they didn’t hit their shots. Ashton hit a lot of big shots with guys in his face, but we really wanted those two guys to beat us.”

Blue Bolts senior Ashton Janke, needing 35 points entering the night for 1,000 career points, was held to a team-high 19 points.

He’ll have another chance to cash in on a big night against the Jets.

“We kind of know what they were looking to do and who they were trying to take away,” Kentala said. “But we’ve got to do a better job of getting Ashton Janke some clean looks.”

John Shmutz added 13 points for the Jets. Austin Kinnunen had 11 points.

Jeffers 11 16 11 11 — 49

DB 8 12 12 15 — 47

JEFFERS (49): Frahm 15, Schutz 13, Austin Kinnunen 11, Hocking 10. FT: 1-1. 3-point FG: Kinnunen 3, Schutz 2, Hocking 2.

DOLLAR BAY-TAMARACK CITY (47): Janke 19, LeClaire 13, Hill 9, Datto 6. FT: 2-2. 3-point FG: Janke 4, Datto 2, LeClaire 2, Hill 1.

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