Matt McCarthy | Iron Mountain Daily News Carney-Nadeau head coach Paul Polfus holds up the MHSAA Division 4 District 99 boys basketball championship trophy in celebration with his players Saturday night, after the Wolves defeated Forest Park 61-49 in overtime at Carney-Nadeau School.

CARNEY — Despite a valiant comeback by Forest Park to tie the game and send it to overtime, it was the host Wolves of Carney-Nadeau that prevailed, 61-49, in overtime in the MHSAA Division 4 District 99 boys basketball championship game here Saturday night.

The host Wolves played with a lead the entire fourth quarter. With 90 seconds remaining in the basketball game, Trojans senior Keall Emmers — who canned a team-high 19 points — single-handedly shot FP back into the game to tie the game.

At the 1:16 mark, C-N led 49-41 when Emmers drained a trey and sparked a Trojans’ time out.

The Wolves failed to score on their ensuing possession, and Emmers hit another trey at the 42.8 mark to bring the score to 49-47.

Carney failed to produce again, and Emmers got free from the tight Wolves defense and tip-toed the baseline, scooped and scored from underneath the basket to tie the game.

“It was exciting to see the fight that the boys had, for them to come back like that and tie it up,” said Forest Park head coach Kurt Lehmann. “It was awesome, and to see them fight back like that was impressive, definitely.”

Carney called a timeout with three seconds remaining but failed to break the tie despite game-high scorer Beau Koffman getting a great look at the basket, sending the game into overtime.

The game was very much a back-and-forth battle throughout regulation, with neither team getting more than a single-digit lead.

“The boys worked so hard on defense tonight for the most part, but we did let them back in the game the last two minutes of regulation,” said veteran Carney-Nadeau head coach Paul Polfus. “Give Crystal (FP) credit, they kept bouncing back into the game and played hard.”

Polfus pointed to Koffman’s — who finished with 22 points — leadership, especially in overtime to help put the game away.

“It was definitely a game of runs, no doubt about it,” Lehmann stated. “They made more shots than we did tonight, and that was huge for them.”

Peyton Imhoff, who chipped in four trifectas for 12 points for the Wolves, drained one of those three’s from between the mid-court stripe at the three-point line at the buzzer of the third quarter to give the Wolves a 35-32 advantage. Tim Hodson also chipped in 12 points for Carney.

In the overtime, it seemed as if a gong went off for C-N, as they knocked down two quick three’s. In fact, within the first 1:26 of the extra stanza, the Wolves took an eight-point lead.

The shell-shocked Trojans seemed to take the fast points as a figurative gut punch and failed to score at all in the extra period. The home crowd was excited, as C-N outscored their fellow Skyline Central Conference opponent, 12-0 in the overtime.

“That made us frantic and trying to hurry up, and we couldn’t convert anything,” Lehmann stated. “I hoped with as good of basketball as we’ve been playing down the stretch of the season, that we’d play like that in overtime, but we didn’t.”

The Trojans finish their season at 7-9, while the Wolves improved to 11-8 with the win. Carney will travel to Marquette Senior High School on Tuesday, to take on Skyline Conference opponent Rapid River in an MHSAA Division 4 Regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Eastern.

“I am proud of my kids,” Polfus exclaimed. “We took the hard road to get here, we beat Stephenson and North Central at their places and had a hard-fought game tonight. I am proud as I could be of these kids.”

Forest Park 9 11 12 17 0 — 49

Carney-Nadeau 11 10 14 14 12 — 61

Forest Park — Scarlassara 2, Johnson 8, Emmers 19, Rintala 8, Showers 10, Rouse 2; FT: 0-6; F: 17; Fouled Out: None; 3-point FG: Johnson 2, Emmers 3, Rintala 2.

Carney-Nadeau — Koffman 22, Flanagan 8, LaFord 2, Kakuk 5, Imhoff 12, Hodson 12; FT: 9-15; F: 14; Fouled Out: None; 3-point FG: Koffman 3, Flanagan 2, Kakuk, Imhoff 4, Hodson 2.