Houghton’s Alex Hebert drives around Calumet’s Owen Loukus during the championship game of the inaugural Copper Country Holiday Tournament Tuesday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — For the first 13 minutes of the championship game Tuesday of the inaugural Copper Country Holiday Tournament, the Calumet Copper Kings boys punched back hard for every swing they took from the Houghton Gremlins, keeping the Gremlins to just a three-score advantage. Then the doors blew off in a one-minute span.

When the storm clouds ceased, the Gremlins emerged with their seventh win of the season, 70-26, at the SDC Gym.

“Two wins in two different ways,” said Gremlins coach Jared Lawson. “As a coach, with high school kids, you play the guys that you have. You don’t go recruiting guys. Yesterday (Monday), something just did not pass the eye test for me. So, we had practice at 9 a.m. (Tuesday,) and we just flipped the script. We changed everything we’ve done for about a month, and we just said, ‘Let’s go chaos.’

“The guys did a great job tonight.”

The turning point was a 58-second span where senior Jack Cooke single-handedly turned the game from a nine-point advantage for Houghton, 27-16, into a 34-17 lead.

“They did a good job,” Copper Kings coach Frank Bonacorsi said. “Any sort of momentum that we had, they came down, buried it. Then at the end of the second quarter, I think they had maybe nine straight points, eight or nine straight points, where it turned like a 10-point game into almost a 20-point game.”

As Bonacorsi said, that stretch changed the complexion of the game. Junior Owen Peterson scored the last bucket the Copper Kings had in the half, a 3-pointer from the left corner, and Calumet (2-5 overall) found itself down 38-20 at half.

Cooke finished with 15 points in the game as one of two players in double figures for the Gremlins (7-1 overall), and Lawson praised the senior for making himself an option more often than not.

“We talked about at halftime,” Lawson said. “We said Jack had his own little personal run and it was unbelievable. Just like that, the game changed, momentum changed. As we know with high school sports, momentum is a key factor. But, you could just feel it in the arena. We have now taken full control of this game.

“We just couldn’t get over that nine-point hump. They just kept battling, coming back, and then boom, Jack gets eight to nine points of his own, changes the complexion of the game.”

Almost a minute later, his contributions became even bigger when senior Mason Mayo left the game with an injury and did not return.

Despite the loss of Mayo, sophomore Terry Nolan continued to find time and space on the floor in the third quarter, and he made Calumet pay over and over again as he hit two 3-pointers and he added a pair of layups as well for 10 of his game-high 21 points. He helped lift the Gremlins to a 23-4 third-quarter run that put the game out of reach for good.

“Trying to hang with that Houghton team is hard,” Bonacorsi said. “Trying to chase around Terry all over the place, because he’s so good, and then their supporting cast did a good job of hitting shots too, and getting the offensive glass. That made life difficult for us.

“Their trapping defense too, in the half court, sped us up. That led to turnover after turnover.”

Nolan’s adjustment into being a starter has gone even better than Lawson thought it might.

“That’s the thing, you to have to keep reminding yourself, last year, he averaged 8-something points a game,” said Lawson. “I expected he’d come back, be in those mid-teens. He’s shattered my expectations. Then you got to (remember,) he’s a sophomore. I keep telling myself, this kid’s a sophomore and he’s doing stuff.”

In the fourth quarter, Houghton had sophomores Levi and Everett Matteson on the floor, and both found ways to chip-in. Levi Matteson had a layup and drew a foul to open the quarter, and though he missed the free point, he downed a 3-pointer with less than two minutes left. Everett Matteson put up a pair of layups of his own.

Lawson liked how the pair responded to getting an opportunity, especially with the injury to Mayo.

“We’re going to need those guys, and as sophomores, it’s asking a lot,” said Lawson. “But with Mason potentially being down with a long injury, we’re going to need both those boys to step up.

“Those guys have a great heads on their shoulders. They work hard for me, and for them to go out there and have the play they did from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, it’s great to see. Hopefully they can build on that confidence, and continue to grow as players.”

For Calumet, senior Peter Torola had six of his team-high eight points in the first half. Junior Andrew Junttila chipped in six.

Through much of the first half, the Copper Kings did a great job of picking off passes and turning those steals into points at the other end of the floor. However, Houghton always seemed to have an answer on the next possession, and that was why Calumet could close the gap below seven in the second quarter.

“My assistant Paul Torola said it best,” said Bonacorsi. “He’s like, ‘I think that emotional bubble popped.’ We’re trying to match that intensity, and we got a little tired too…We have to get that offense to try to be able to sustain, and meet that defensive intensity that we had. We have to match it with our offensive side as well.”

Junior Alex Hebert, Mayo, and Levi Matteson all finished with eight points each for Houghton.

Up next

The Gremlins are back in action on Jan. 5, when they host Gwinn. Calumet will also be in action, hosting Negaunee.