The Calumet Copper Kings held the visiting Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes to just three points in the opening eight minutes of play. From there, the Copper Kings were able to play strong enough defensively to keep the Lakes from catching back up as Calumet earned a 69-35.

Matt Ojala led the Copper Kings’ offense with 27 points, including seven in the first quarter and six more in the third. He finished his night with a triple-double thanks to 11 rebounds and 10 assists as well.

“He had it going pretty good, especially in that first half,” said Copper Kings coach Mike Ojala. “He finished with a triple-double. He’s really been playing pretty well. He’s been frustrated a little bit with not finishing around the basket as much as he would like.”

With Matt Ojala’s game working as well as it was, the Copper Kings were able to free up space for Brandon Antilla, who hit four threes on the night from the outside.

“(Matt) was pretty good from the perimeter tonight,” said Mike Ojala. “The whole team was pretty solid on both ends.

“We can consistently have four or five shooters on that court. Really, it’s Matt’s penetration and his ability to get into the paint and create shots for the other guys that has been good.”

The Lakes fought back hard in the second quarter, getting two threes from William Lyons and one each from Cole Gregoire and Ben Wilson.

From there, Carter Crouch had the remaining three three’s the Lakes had on the night. Antilla hit two of his four in the third quarter to keep the Copper Kings well in control.

Coach Ojala was extremely pleased with his team’s defensive effort throughout the night.

“One of the big things I was pleased with was how we played defensively in that first quarter, holding them to three points,” he said “We had a pretty good energy to us on that end of the court. Lake Linden is not an easy team to guard. They have some good athletes.”

The Copper Kings have two more games next week before they are off on Christmas break.

Lake Linden 3 13 10 8 – 35

Calumet

LLH: Wickstrom-Huuki 2, Crouch 12, Lyons 11, Co. Gregoire 3, Wilson 5, Hill 2; Fouls: 11; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Crouch 3, Lyons 3

CLK: Bra. Anttila 12, Haapala 2, M. Ojala 27, Bre. Antilla 5, T. Ojala 7, McParlan 6, Twardzik 3, Torola 7; Fouls: 15; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Bra. Antilla 4, M. Ojala 1, Bre. Antilla 1, T. Ojala 1, Twardzik 1, Torola 1