Gordon, Ruotsala, Cole named to All-UP Second Team

MARQUETTE --- Ewen-Trout Creek’s super scorer, the leader of Wakefield-Marenisco’s district championship team and Ironwood’s floor leader were named to the All-U.P. Division 4 Second Team at Monday’s meeting of the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Ewen-Trout Creek’s Austin Gordon, Ironwood’s Axton Ruotsala and Wakefield-Marenisco’s Carter Cole joined nine other top players on the Second Team.

Gordon, a 5-11 junior, made the list for the second straight year. His 24.1 point per game scoring average ranked second in the Upper Peninsula, behind only St. Ignace’s Jonny Ingalls, who was named Mr. Basketball and scored 30.4 a game.

Gordon exceeded the 30-point mark in a game six times this season and he hit the 1,000-point mark for his career late in the year. He shot 57% on 2-point shots and 39% from 3. He was an efficient scorer and had some games that really stood out, including a February win over Ironwood where he scored 34 points on 14 of 17 shooting.

His efficiency came, in part, because he was able to get to the rim and he took fewer 3s, E-TC coach Brad Besonen said.

“A large part, though, was our ball movement, spacing and cutting,” he said. “It was hard for opponents to just load up the help. Our guys also were very patient and set him up with great opportunities to score.”

Gordon also averaged 4.8 rebounds per game.

The Panthers won the Porcupine Mountain Division and had a final record of 14-8 this season. They finished the regular season winning 10 of their last 11 after starting 4-7.

“We had a very solid season with a tough schedule,” Besonen said. “Austin’s offensive success was a large part of our team’s success.”

Ruotsala, a 5-9 junior guard, averaged 11.6 points, 3.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds for the Red Devils.

“Axton was our floor leader and second-leading scorer,” Ironwood coach Adam Mackey said. “After receiving special mention All-U.P. last year, he was faced with stiff defenses and was the focus from opposing teams. He had to pass the ball more and created scoring opportunities for his teammates. He was our best 1-on-1 defender.”

Ruotsala was one of the few defenders to have success against E-TC’s Gordon this year, holding him to four points, all free throws, in Ironwood’s district semifinal win over the Panthers.

Ironwood finished the season with a 16-9 record.

Cole, a 5-8 senior, led the Cardinals to their first district championship in 32 years. He averaged a solid double double with 16 points and 15 rebounds per game. He also blocked 2.5 shots a game.

“Great all-around athlete, gets to the basket at-will and always played way bigger and faster than his size,” W-M coach Pat Libertoski said. “Ultimate team player, he will be missed. Big reason we won our first district title in 32 years.”

Ingalls won the U.P.’s Mr. Basketball award with a dominant senior season that ended in the state semifinal.

He averaged 30.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 4.3 steals and 2.6 blocks. He finished with 2,029 career points. Ingalls stepped up his scoring to 35.5 points per game in St. Ignace’s tournament run.

His Dad, Doug, was named Division 4 Coach of the Year. He won the Class C award in 2000. He’s retiring after 25 years coaching the Saints.

Jonny and Doug were also named Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, for all of Michigan by the Associated Press last week.

The family has some history with these U.P. awards.

Doug was Class ABC Player of the Year for Gladstone in 1986.

Doug’s father, Jack, first won the coaching award 40 years ago when he was coaching Gladstone, and he won it three straight times, in 1984, 1985 and 1986, when Doug was an All-U.P. player for him.

Back to this year, St. Ignace is Division 4 Team of the Year after winning the award last year in Division 3.

Marquette was Division 1-2 Team of the Year. They finished 20-4 and won 17 straight games at one point.

Menominee took the D-3 award for the second time in three years. They were the only team to beat Iron Mountain this year and they did it twice. They came up just short of getting back to state; they made it all the way to the state final in 2022.

Kingsford’s Dan Olkkonen, a White Pine native, was Division 1-3 Coach of the Year. He also won the award in 2012.

Iron Mountain’s Oskar Kangas repeated as big school Player of the Year. Kangas, a 6-6 junior, averaged 19.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.5 steals and 2 blocks per game.

Joining Ingalls and Kangas on the Dream Team are Jeffers’ Levi Frahm, Marquette’s Jacob MacPhee and Kingsford’s Gavin Grondin.

Frahm made it two years in a row on the Dream Team. He averaged 18.8 points, 7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.4 steals for the Jets. He averaged 41% from beyond the arc.

Two Red Devils were honorable mention — Kurt Bissell, a 6-1 senior, and Nick Miskovich, a 6-2 sophomore.

Bissell averaged 10.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game while Miskovich finished the season at 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2 steals a contest.

“Kurt was a big guy and our senior leader,” Mackey said. “He was undersized for center but made up for it by his hustle and effort.”

Bissell was Ironwood’s leading rebounder, he had more than 10 boards in a dozen games this year and he had 10 double doubles.

“We did not run any plays offensively for Kurt; all of his scoring came off of offensive rebounds and fast-break opportunities,” Mackey said.

Miskovich was Ironwood’s leading scorer and he was second on the team in rebounding.

“He progressed throughout the year and was playing his best basketball toward the end of the year,” Mackey said. “His size, length and skill made it hard for teams to guard.”

Miskovich scored it well against some of Ironwood’s best competition - he had 21 points against Ishpeming and Wakefield-Marenisco, 20 against Ewen-Trout Creek and 18 at Lake Linden-Hubbell.

The UPSSA also voted on the All-U.P. girls basketball team Monday. That will be published in next week’s edition.