Dollar Bay-Tamarack City’s Jackson VonDoloski lines up a free throw during a game against Calumet Monday in the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Gym. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

DOLLAR BAY — Both basketball coaches could agree on one thing Monday night, the matchup between the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts and the Calumet Copper Kings proved to be a good one.

In the end, the Blue Bolts proved to be the better team and won this one 54-48. It brought a smile to their coach, Jesse Kentala.

“I’m happy. That was a good win for us. Calumet is a nice team,” he said. “They are well-coached and are a good physical team.”

This was the second meeting between these two teams. The Blue Bolts won the first by nine in Calumet.

In round two, the rivals swapped opening baskets, and the Blue Bolts pushed out to an 11-5 lead. Neither team did much better offensively in the second. The Blue Bolts maintained a six point lead at 21-15 at the midpoint.

“At half, I told the boys to keep it up,” added Kentala. “Rebounding picked up on both ends and that made a difference.”

In the third, the Copper Kings took a brief 30-29 lead with 3:06 to go. The Blue Bolts, however, regained the advantage and went up 32-30 to start the fourth.

The Calumet team open the final quarter with a basket to tie it, but that is as good as it got. The Blue Bolts countered with three triples and made it a 45-39 game, putting the game out of reach for the Copper Kings.

“This was a team win but the unsung hero tonight was Jackson VonDoloski,” coach Kentala added. “He hit the boards hard and did a lot of little things all over the place.”

VonDoloski had nine points. Caleb Kentala and Baron Colbert both led the game with 17.

Gavin Sturos was the Copper Kings top scorer with 14.

“This was a great battle there till the end,” noted Calumet coach Frank Bonacorsi. “Credit goes to Dollar Bay. They made that run there in the fourth, and that made the difference.”

UP NEXT

The Blue Bolts are back in action Wednesday to battle Hancock. Calumet hosts Westwood on Thursday.