Hancock’s Ryan Froiland (44) and AJ Dulong (33) block out Dollar Bay-Tamarack City’s Joshua Gaunt on Wednesday at the Hancock High School gym. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — The Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts boys basketball team continued their winning ways on Wednesday with a 54-33 downing of the Hancock Bulldogs. The win put the Blue Bolts at 17-3 with MHSAA districts looming in less than two weeks.

While it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, coach Jesse Kentala was pleased to get the victory.

“Our energy was down tonight, but we ground out a win,” he said. “Sometimes that’s all you can do.”

The start was slow with just 12 total points between teams in the first eight minutes. The Blue Bolts led 8-4.

Gage Chynoweth had the Bulldogs four points, and led the scoring for the Hancock squad with 12 on the night.

The second quarter was much the same with the Blue Bolts scoring 11, and the Bulldogs pouring in eight. It was a 19-12 Blue Bolts’ lead at half.

The third was the Bulldogs’ best as they scored 14 points and the opposition took notice.

“Credit goes to Hancock. They made the shots, rebounded, and were offensively efficient,” noted Kentala.

However, Dollar Bay bounced back and seemingly wore them out in the fourth as they outscored the Bulldogs 19-7 and secured the 21-point win.

Liam Tourtillott led the scoring for the Blue Bolts with 26 points, including going an impressive 10-of-11 from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs (0-19) have yet to win a game. However, according to their coach Zach Ohtonen, Wednesday night’s game was very much a moral victory in many ways.

“The kids came out and played hard and made this a close game,” he said. “They moved the ball well and handled the pressure well. This was not a blowout and I am proud of the way they played tonight.”

UP NEXT

The Bulldogs will face the Ironwood Red Devils at home on Friday. At the same time, the Blue Bolts will welcome the Baraga Vikings to the gym.