Houghton came through down the stretch to beat Calumet 61-57 on Thursday.

The Gremlins quickly tied the game at 57-all after Calumet’s Brevin Antilla threw up an alley-oop pass to Elijah McParlan with less than a minute to go.

Houghton’s Dylan Primeau knocked down a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left to give the Gremlins a 59-57 lead.

Calumet put itself into position for a tie, holding the ball for a timeout with 8.6 seconds left. But the Copper Kings coughed up a turnover and Pablo Salgado went to the line and hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.

Salgado finished with 24 points for the Gremlins. Brad Simonsen chipped in 14 points.

McParlan paced Calumet with 21 points and Antilla added 12.

“It was a good battle, especially for the final 10 minutes there,” Calumet head coach Frank Bonacorsi said. “Very, very proud of the guys for starting to lock down on defense. They’re starting to take form and trust each other. That’s a huge positive going forward for us. Houghton did a great job hitting some shots there at the end and getting open.”

Houghton led by as much as 10 in the third quarter. The double-digit advantage lasted just one possession as Calumet answered with a bucket and slowly chipped away at the deficit.

McParlan missed a layup that would have put Calumet ahead 47-46 going into the fourth quarter.

Bonacorsi said keying on Simonsen, a Michigan Tech commit, was an obvious necessity, but it opened up the floor more for Salgado.

“We did a better job on Pablo keeping him to one side. He’s hit 3s with a hand in his face, so credit to him to come in and do that,” Bonacorsi said. “Hopefully having him there takes some pressure off of Brad, because you know Brad is who we’re going to key in. When he hits those shots where you just go ‘OK, nothing you can really do there.'”

Bonacorsi said the quick basket Houghton got after McParlan scored the go-ahead alley-oop was a momentum killer.

“The kids executed the play great. It was something that we’ve worked on in practice — it was perfect,” Bonacorsi said of the alley-oop. “We lost one of the guys in transition. That was a dagger. You go from a high to such a low there. That hurt, but it’s basketball.”

Houghton hosts West Iron County on Tuesday, while Calumet hosts Baraga.

Houghton 16 15 15 15 — 61

Calumet 19 7 19 12 — 57

HOUGHTON (61): Salgado 24, Simonsen 14, Jurva 12, Primeau 8, Romano 3. FT: 11-14. 3-point FG: Simonsen 2, Jurva 2, Romano 1, Salgado 1. F: 12.

CALUMET (57): McParlan 21, Antilla 12, Torola 10, Nelson 5, Kangas 5, Twardzik 4. FT: 6-8. 3-point FG: Antilla 4, Kangas 2, McParlan 2, Torola 2. F: 13.