CALUMET — Entering the fourth quarter, the Calumet Copper Kings boys basketball team trailed the Bessemer Speedboys, 32-24, and anybody who watched the game up to that point had little faith in a Kings comeback.

Despite the doubt in the Calumet gym, the players had no plans of rolling over. That belief led to a Copper Kings 37-35 win on Monday.

Most of the King’s halftime adjustments revolved around the team’s motivation.

“(We lit) a fire under them at half time,” said Calumet head coach Frank Bonacorsi. “Just telling them, find a way, find a way, and finally it ignited there in the fourth quarter and able to come back.

Calumet started the fourth quarter with new life. The Kings went on an 8-2 run to make it a two-point game, 34-32. The momentum was in favor of the home team. The Kings added three more points in the final four minutes of the game, and their defense held strong, keeping the Speedboys to just one more point for a 37-35 victory.

The Copper Kings (5-3) fell into the large deficit partially from their own poor and sloppy play.

“We played terrible for about three quarters. Our focus was not quite there, and I think in the first three quarters, we had 20 turnovers,” said Bonacorsi.

Up until the fourth quarter, Bessemer was happy with how they were playing.

“I thought we did pretty good for three and a half quarters,” said Bessemer head coach Richard Matrella. “The whole fourth quarter, we lost our composure; a lot of credit goes to calumet. They are very aggressive.”

After halftime Bessemer had a 21-15 lead. Halfway through the third quarter, each team recorded a basket, and the score was 23-17. The Speedboys went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to thirteen, 30-17. Calumet started their comeback push by outscoring Bessemer seven to two in the final minutes of the third quarter. The Speedboys took a 32-34 advantage into the fourth frame.

The Speedboys (2-5) started the second quarter with five unanswered points. Calumet got two points back, but Bessemer had a 17-9 advantage with four minutes left in the half. In the final three minutes of the second quarter, the Kings outscored the Speedboys six to four but trailed 21-15 entering halftime.

Both teams had a run of five points to open the contest, and the score was 5-5 four minutes into the game. Bessemer scored four points to take a 9-5 lead with a minute left in the first quarter. Calumet grabbed a bucket with three seconds left, and the Speedboys took a 9-7 lead into the second quarter.

Senior Kip Kangas had 14 points for the Kings, and Lyle Poyhonen had eight.

Jack Matrella led the way for the Speedboys with 12 points.