DULUTH – Ely nearly upset Mountain Iron-Buhl, rebounding from a 12=point deficit at the half to take a 53-50 lead in the second half. But the Rangers stopped the comeback and won 59-64 in Saturday's quarterfinals at UMD's Romano Gym.

The top-seeded Rangers were led by Jaylon Holmes, who dumped in 28 points with the bulk of them coming in the second half. MI-B's Dante Josephson contributed 14 while Archie Winans added 11.

Ely was led by Evan Omerza, who scored 16 points. Teammates Elliot Omerza and Josh Heiman also reached double digits adding 15 and 14, respectively.

The fourth-seeded Timberwolves were more successful in Thursday's playoff game against Nashwauk-Keewatin. Ely rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeat the Spartans, 48-44, in their opening round in the Section 7A Playoffs at the Hibbing Memorial Arena.

“We struggled offensively then switched up and all of a sudden we started getting shots,” said Timberwolves Head Coach Tom McDonald.

Ely’s defense also played a key role in the win. “We changed our defense to a 1-2-2 half-court trap in the second half and we caught them back on their heels a little bit and we started to turn them over a little bit.”

The Timberwolves trailed most of the game, with the Spartans leading 25-20 at the half.

The Spartans’ defense kept Ely from moving the ball inside and the Wolves were without their best post player, Michael Lah, who has been sidelined with an injury.

“We’re not a very good inside team and we don’t do a very good job of finding our inside guys when they’re open,” said McDonald. “We kind of rely on our three-point shots and we were dying by it earlier.”

Nashwauk-Keewatin expanded its lead to 34-24 before Ely began to whittle it down.

“We knew we were in for a battle, but we never let them get away from us,” McDonald said. “We down by 10 and we never let it get worse. I think if it would have been worse, we would have been in trouble.”

With less than four minutes left, the Wolves took a slim 41-40 lead on a basket from three-point range by Elliot Omerza. The Spartans pulled ahead 42-41 on a pair of free throws, but the Wolves took the lead for good on a basket by Heiman and a pair of free throws by Evan Omerza.

The Spartans cut Ely’s lead to 46-44, but with time running out was forced to foul Ely where the Wolves tacked on two more free throws for the final margin 48-44.

“We hit four of the last five free throws and those are pressure free throws and Carter (Gaulke) and Evan both knocked them down,” said McDonald. “That was big.”

Spencer Gaulke, who hit three treys, led the Timberwolves with 15 points while Carter Gaulke and Jeffrey Willis contributed eight apiece.

The Spartans’ Marek Cobb emerged as his team’s top scorer with 17 points. Teammate Kaleb Pelkey was close behind with 15.

A more detailed report and additional photos will be published in the March 6 edition of the Timberjay.