Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Dollar Bay-Tamarack City’s Baron Colbert (2) and Houghton’s Lane Laux battle under the hoop on Friday at the Houghton High School gym. In on the play as well is the Blue Bolts Liam Tourtillott (20).

By Eddie O’Neill

eoneill@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON- The third time’s a charm-so the saying goes.

However it was the second meeting between the Dollar Bay- Tamarack City Blue Bolts and the Houghton Gremlins on Friday that proved to have plenty of charm for the Gremlins’ boys as they won 89-50.

Houghton’s 39-point win was quite a contrast to their Dec. 2, 74-70 loss to the Blue Bolts.

Other than a close first period, this one was all Gremlins. The Gremlins led 17-16 after one and pushed that to a 43-24 lead at half.

“The guys came out tonight and gave a great response,” noted Houghton’s coach Jared Lawson. “I am very proud of them.”

He added that teamwork made the difference. The Gremlins (9-2) were patient and worked the ball well on offense-not forcing shots.

“I just told them that when they work as a team, you can compete with any team in the U.P. They were fluid and the made good shots.”

In the third and fourth period, the Gremlins outscored the Blue Bolts 46-26. Key to that scoring differential was the Gremlins defense.

“Our defense was phenomenal,” stated Lawson. “In particular, we limited Liam (Tourtillott) to just 11 points. He burned us last time we played him. That was a great response by us. We took advantage of the things we could control, and it was something we didn’t do that in that first meeting.”

Blue Bolts coach Jesse Kentala noted the difference in game play as well.

“Houghton is a good team, and they shoot well,” he said. “They outplayed us in terms of size and physicality.”

He summed it up best by noting his team seemed to be off from the start and it went downhill from there.

“It just wasn’t our night,” he stated. “When you are not playing well on the offensive side of the ball, it tends to snowball on the defensive.”

The Gremlins Luke Hill had the hot hand with 31 points. Fifteen of those came from beyond the three-point line. Right behind him was Lane Laux with 30 points. Fifteen of his points came in the fourth period alone.

Baron Colbert led the Blue Bolts in scoring with 14 points. Liam Tourtillott followed with 11, and Caleb Kentala had 10.

UP NEXT

The Gremlins will be in West Iron County to take on the Wykons on Monday. The Blue Bolts will welcome the Wakefield-Marenisco Cardinals on Moinday as well.