Jeffers’ Levi Frahm shoots against Ishpeming during a MHSAA Division 3 District 65 semifinal on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, in Painesdale, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)
PAINESDALE — The Jeffers’ Jets hit shot after shot on Wednesday night and posted a 66-41 win over the Ishpeming Hematites in MHSSA Division 3 District 65 semifinal.
With the win, the Jets visit Westwood for the district championship. Westwood beat Calumet 59-30 in the other semifinal.
“I am very happy with the win,” said Jeffers’ head coach John Schutz. “This is the start of our second season, and I thought we came out and made a statement.”
That statement began in the first quarter as the Jets jumped out to a 11-2 lead. Levi Frahm and Johnny Schutz had the hot hands in the opening eight minutes. They combined for 14 of the team’s 19 points. Frahm would go on to lead the scoring for the Jets with 19 in the game. Schutz followed with 18.
“We knew that they were going to come out strong and fast before a home crowd, and we didn’t do well to slow them down,” said Ishpeming head coach Christopher Magnuson.
The Hematites second quarter was their best. They opened with four unanswered points as the Jets went flat. They outscored the Jets 14-7 and trimmed the lead to six with a 26-20 Jeffers tilt at halftime.
If the second quarter belonged to Ishpeming, the third and fourth belonged to the Jets. They came out of the locker room and scored four unanswered points of their own and stretched the lead to 10 at 33-23. The key to their adding points was grabbing rebounds. They were getting two and three opportunities off their own offensive shots.
“Rebounding was huge for us tonight,” said Schutz. “If shots didn’t go in, we had players there ready to put them right back up.”
He added that defense was another key factor to this win. In particular, they were able to shut down Ishpeming’s AJ Prosser who scored more than 20 points on Monday against the Houghton Gremlins. On Wednesday, Prosser had zero.
“We knew if we could shut him down then it would be a win for us,” Schutz said.
In the fourth, the Jets turned it up a notch scoring 26 points. As the starters came off the court and the bench players went in, they poured in quite a few points of their own. Schutz said everyone who got in the game had at least a point.
“That was good to see especially for our seniors,” he said. “This was their last game on their home court.”
IHS 8 14 8 13 — 41
JHS 19 7 14 26 — 66
ISHPEMING (41): Kipling 18, Smith 8, Sundberg 8, Pa. Gauthier 3, Pr. Gauthier 3, Korpi 1. 3PT: Kipling 2, Smith 2, Pa. Gauthier 3, Pr. Gauthier 3. FT: 11-12
JEFFERS (66): Kinnunen 6, L. Frahm 19, Kunishige 1, L. Heinonen 3, Larson 4, Schutz 18, R. Heinonen 2, Mattila 6, I. Frahm 7. 3PT: Kinnunen 2, L. Frahm 1 l. Heinonen 1, Schutz 2, I. Frahm 2. FT: 6-11.
Lake Linden-Hubbell 72, Dollar Bay-TC 41
LAKE LINDEN — Danny Marcotte scored 18 points to lead Lake Linden-Hubbell over Dollar Bay-Tamarack City in the MHSAA Division 4 District 97 semifinals on Wednesday.
Marcus Sutherland added 15 points for the Lakes.
AJ Datto had 13 points for Dollar Bay-TC.
The Lakes visit L’Anse for the district championship at 6 p.m. today. L’Anse dominated its rival Baraga 63-47 in the other semifinal.
