CALUMET — It was opening night on the basketball court Monday for high school boys in Michigan. Locally, the Calumet Copper Kings began their 2025-26 campaign with a 50-42 loss against the Bessemer Speedboys.

“They got us on rebounding,” said Calumet coach Frank Bonacorsi. “They were getting second and third chances under the hoop, and that cannot happen. We did a good job with our shooting, but we needed those second-chance opportunities and were not getting them.”

After tying the score at two and four, Bessemer jumped out to an 18-14 lead with less than 90 seconds to go in the first quarter.

They improved that to a 20-14 lead at the end of one. Leading the charge for the Speedboys was Jayden Verrett. The junior had 14 of his team’s 20 points in the first seven minutes. He went on to l

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