Ontonagon’s Dakota Laingren (22) celebrates with teammates after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer Monday, March 9, 2020, in the Division 4 District 97 opener at Ontonagon, Mich. (Jason Juno/Daily Globe)

ONTONAGON — Ontonagon’s season was on the line — they were inbounding the ball underneath their own basket while down by two points with four seconds on the clock in the first game of the district tournament — and their intended target ended up on the floor.

Season over, right?

Hardly.

The ball bounced on the floor near Luke Soumis, Ontonagon’s first option, just high enough so Wakefield-Marenisco’s Logan Hamel couldn’t quite reach it and out to the wing near where Dakota Laingren was positioned.

Laingren ran to the ball and put up a 3 as soon as he collected it, arcing the rushed shot high over Hamel’s outstretched arm.

Swish.

Ontonagon pulled off an improbable comeback – they were down by 10 points in the fourth quarter – to beat Wakefield-Marenisco 49-48 in Monday night’s thrilling Division 4 District 97 opener.

“Down two with four seconds to go, taking that last shot, just grateful for making it,” Laingren said. “It’s amazing.”

The Cardinals had a chance to ice the game at the free throw line, but with 14 seconds left, they missed the front end of a 1-on-1 for the second time in the final minutes.

Ontonagon’s first play was well defended. Logan Latvis took it to the rim, but W-M’s Matthew Montie defended it well and the ball ended up out of bounds, Gladiators ball with 4 seconds to go.

They couldn’t get it in on the first attempt, so they took a timeout.

“We had a couple of successes – we have our people cut out, so it usually leaves Luke Soumis in the lane to cut open,” Ontonagon coach Brittany Turin-Jilbert said. “So it usually leaves Luke Soumis in the lane to cut open.”

He cut and the ball went to him, but he was on the floor when it came, as he tripped over a W-M defender trying to get through traffic.

“He said he doesn’t think the kid stuck his knee out on purpose, but he fell then,” Turin-Jilbert said.

Originally Turin-Jilbert stressed that four seconds was enough time that they didn’t have to just throw something up right away. She thought Soumis could get a good look inside or that a forward would get it and they could kick it out to a shooter.

But as the play broke down, time wasn’t on their side anymore.

“I’m glad he had the presence (of mind) to know to get it up,” Turin-Jilbert said. “There’s no time to pass by the time it got to him.”

It was the 11th 3-pointer of the year, and second of the night, for Laingren, a 22% 3-pointer shooter on the season.

His teammates celebrated, fans joined them and W-M was caught in the middle on the latest part of their roller coaster of a season.

W-M fell to 1-2 in games decided on buzzer beating shots.

They lost at Ironwood on a Tommy Lundin fadeaway, beat the Red Devils on a half-court shot by Adam Libertoski and now go into the off-season with quite the punch to the gut in a district many thought they could win.

“I told them I didn’t want any 3s, and when the ball got tipped, it went right into his hands,” W-M coach Terry Fetters said. “And we didn’t have anybody out there.”

They couldn’t solve the Gladiators this year, losing all three games to them by a combined four points.

It was a tight battle all night Monday, but it appeared W-M had finally solved the Gladiators, who started the season 1-7 before turning things around in a big way, with an 8-0 run to take a 44-34 lead early in the fourth quarter even as Ethan Libertoski sat out with four fouls.

“We had the lead to 10 and then we stopped playing,” Fetters said. “We stopped attacking the basket. I called timeout and I said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to be able to take five minutes off the clock, we have to continue to play. We got a few extra baskets there, and they had to foul, but we could not execute free throws tonight.”

Logan Latvis led Ontonagon with 19 points and Luke Strasser had 12.

Adam Libertoski paced the Cardinals with 16 points and Morgan Miskovich scored 11.

W-M finished the season at 12-8.

Ontonagon (10-11) hosts Ewen-Trout Creek in a district semifinal at 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Bessemer meets Watersmeet in the other semifinal to follow.

W-M 9 12 20 7 — 48

Ontonagon 10 11 13 15 — 49

WAKEFIELD-MARENISCO (48): Shirkey 2, E. Libertoski 4, Miskovich 11, A. Libertoski 16, Cole 8, Montie 6, Hamel 1. FT: 2-12. F: 13. Fouled out: E. Libertoski. 3-pointers: A. Libertoski 4, Cole 2.

ONTONAGON (49): Latvis 19, Soumis 6, LaBine 4, Strasser 12, Laingren 6, Preiss 2. FT: 12-16. F: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Strasser 2, Laingren 2, LaBine 1.