The L’Anse Purple Hornets emerged victorious with a 60-57 win on Thursday at home over the visiting Calumet Copper Kings.

Louie Bogda lead the Purple Hornets with 30 points and Matthew Ojla had 24 points of his own for Calumet but leadership from L’anse coach Kyle Koski would pull L’anse ahead in the end.

Koski praised the efforts of Alex Kissel and Paul Jacobson, who helped spark the Purple Hornets’ strong start.

“Alex Kissel had a huge first quarter and Paul Jacobson’s huge three at the buzzer gave us a 15-8 lead after one,” Koski said. “Our zone gave them fits in the second quarter and we controlled the pace that we wanted the game at.”

The Purple Hornets’ Reese Waara came out of the break big with 11 of his 16 points in the third.

“Obviously, playing Calumet, who we’ve lost to in the last two years by an average of 38 points per game, was in my mind, but we left in on the court tonight,” said Koski. “(We were) up five at the half. I looked at our guys and said first place in the conference is in the line. They are gonna come out with a lot of energy in the second half and we have to match it.

“The fourth quarter was ugly. We had a lot of unforced turnovers after being up 12 with three mins to play. Calumet cut it to three with 4.9 seconds left, but luckily we were able to close it out for a huge win for our program.”

L’Anse was led by sophomore Alex Kissel with 17 points.

The Purple Hornets closed the contest by going 8-9 from the free throw line.

Matt Ojala led Calumet with 24 points.

L’Anse 15 11 20 14 – 60

Calumet 8 13 16 20 – 57

LHS: Jacobson 3, Reed 10, Allen 4, Kissell, 17 Bogda 4, Rajala 5, Waara 16, LaPlante 1; Fouls: 17; Fouled out: Waara; 3-point field goals: Kissel 5, Waara 3, Jacobson 1

CLK: Bra. Antilla 6, M. Ojala 24, Bre. Antilla 6, T. Ojala 11, McParlan 3, Torola 6; Fouls 16; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Bra. Antilla 2, M. Ojala 2, Bre. Antilla 2