Westwood, MI – February 26th, 2018 – The Ishpeming Hematites Boys High School Basketball team traveled to Westwood tonight to take on the Westwood Patriots and won the game with a final score of 52-45.
This was an evening of a long standing team rivalry between the Ishpeming Hematites and the Westwood Patriots. Late in 2017 the Patriots met the Hematites and lost that game 42-40 Ishpeming. The night started with the Westwood JV team taking victory over the JV Hematites and the varsity set out to repeat this victory.
The First frame saw Westwood putting up the first points. The Hematites fired back to tie up 2-2, but Westwood pulled ahead with an early lead 6-3, but Ishpeming kept closing the gap. The quarter closed out 15-12 Westwood.
The second quarter had the Hematites’s backs against a wall, Westwood kept putting up 3-point shots and quickly pulled a 10 point lead. Unable to break the Patriots streak the Hematites struggled to close the gap closing out the first half of the game with a Patriots lead.
Ishpeming closed the gap in the third quarter to 5 points, still trailing behind Westwood. Hart Holmgren put the score into a one possession game, then immediately steals the ball and puts up another 2 closing the Patriots lead to just 1. Gaven Sundberg closed out the third to take the lead over Westwood with a score of 40-38 Ishpeming. 
Reminiscent of the December 11th match-up, the Hematites came back to take the lead and the game ran down to a close one possession game with both teams battling down to the final minute of play at 48-45 Ishpeming.The game wound down to 25 seconds 52-45 and Hart Holmgren steals the ball, only to slam into an official who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Hematites ran out the clock and won the game with a lead of 7.
Hart Holmgren led the team points with 21, followed by Gaven Sundberg with 14.
Hart Holmgren point total: 1067
The Ishpeming Hematites Boys are back in action in Ishpeming facing off against the West Iron County Wykons on February 27th. Pregame is at 7:10PM and tip-off is at 7:30PM. Join us for all the action on 98.3 WRUP and streaming online at WRUP.com.
Listen to the game Audio here: Ishpeming Hematites defeat Westwood Patriots.mp3
