Liam Tourtillott and the rest of the Blue Bolts celebrate Dollar Bay’s regional championship Thursday night in Negaunee. (Jason Juno/The Globe (ironwood))

NEGAUNEE — Caleb Kentala remembers being in Negaunee watching his dad, Jesse, coaching Dollar Bay to back-to-back regional titles. Jesse looked back even further, to the kindergarten tournaments they went to, the start of watching his son and his friends get better and better.

It all came together Thursday night. Caleb, Jesse, and the entire Blue Bolts team celebrated back here at Lakeview Gym with the regional championship trophy after a 62-46 victory over North Dickinson Thursday night.

“It feels so awesome,” Caleb, Dollar Bay’s sure-handed senior point guard, said. “I remember being a little kid, it being surreal that the 2018, 2019 team came this far. And now it’s our turn. So it feels amazing.”

Dollar Bay won this regional final by dominating the Nordics in the second quarter, outscoring them 20-6 to take a 33-15 lead into halftime. They were sparked yet again led by Liam Tourtillott, who scored 14 of his 19 first-half points in the frame.

The Blue Bolts got the program’s first regional trophy since those consecutive titles they watched a different Dollar Bay group win in the late 2010s because of all they’ve done over the years — playing all that basketball, putting all that work in.

“They were young, they were little and they saw what it’s like and they wanted to recreate that feeling for themselves,” coach Kentala said. “And they certainly didn’t do it the easy way. They did it by hard work and being in the gym.”

This tournament hasn’t been easy either, even if they’ve started to make it look that way.

Dollar Bay edged a good Baraga team 49-43 in the district final. They jumped Wakefield-Marenisco for a big regional semifinal win Tuesday night and then faced a North Dickinson team that some gave the edge to –the Nordics were bigger and they knocked off the No. 1-ranked team in the Upper Peninsula in their semifinal, Crystal Falls Forest Park.

The Nordics looked good in the very early stages Thursday night, too, getting to the basket with relative ease for 7-3 and 9-5 leads. It was pretty much all Dollar Bay after that, though.

Kentala and Tourtillott hit 3s to end the first quarter and give the Blue Bolts a 13-9 lead. Tourtillot knocked down four 3s in the second quarter, his last one putting Dollar Bay up an incredible 17 points, 29-12.

At halftime it was Tourtillot 19, North Dickinson 15, and more importantly, Dollar Bay 33, North Dickinson 15.

Seniors don’t want to go home this time of year, Kentala said, and Tourtillott has helped to make sure the Blue Bolts are still playing.

“He’s put a lot of work into this,” he said. “It’s fun to see him show up on a big stage with the bright lights.”

It was tougher for him to score in the second half. The Nordics are a good, proud team and they made runs. They just couldn’t get the margin down to single digits and Dollar Bay was soon celebrating around coach Kentala after he received the regional championship trophy.

It took a great defensive effort against a bigger team and another special night from Tourtillott on the offensive end.

“I was worried about their height. I knew they had us beat inside,” Caleb said. “We knew going into the game we had to rebound, we had to be physical. We ended up hitting shots, and that was the plan, to play Dollar Bay basketball.”

Coach Kentala reiterated that size was their main concern going into the game — “How they were going to try to punish us in the post,” he said. “But I just think we played team defense, I was really proud of our guys, everybody on the defensive side of the ball.

“And then, of course, Liam was special on the offensive side of the ball.”

Nordics’ coach Chris Mattson said his team needed to rebound better, but “scrappy” Dollar Bay made that tough. They typically play their best on defense, he said, when the offense is efficient and it wasn’t in this one, as they missed outside shots. He gave credit to Tourtillott, who finished with 25 points, as well.

“Senior leadership from his standpoint, he took control of the game early and I think that their kids fed off of his leadership,” Mattson said.

North Dickinson finished a great season at 21-4, but it’s never fun to lose at this point of the season.

“This one hurts obviously,” he said. “My seniors have been part of this program, many of them for three years, two of them for four years. … That’s a tough way to go out, from my standpoint, coaching these kids this year has been just a treat.”

Brady Jungwirth led the Nordics with 12 points.

Tyler Jaehnig had 13 for Dollar Bay and Baron Colbert scored 12.

Dollar Bay (23-2) plays Pickford (25-0) Tuesday night in a quarterfinal at Gladstone with the winner going to state. Dollar Bay was last there with those 2018 and 2019 teams. Kentala said he didn’t look ahead, so the preparation for Pickford was to get under way soon.

First in Negaunee, Kentala enjoyed the moment as a dad and a coach. That’s the journey he’s been on with this championship team, this season, and all through their basketball journeys.

“We just got all his friends in the gym and I’d just watch them grow up,” Kentala said. “I watched them become young men and they’re great in school, they’re great on the court, they’re great people.”

Dollar Bay’s Liam Tourtillott takes a shot Thursday night in Negaunee. (Jason Juno/The Globe (Ironwood))