Iron Mountain senior Oskar Kangas (0) drives to the basket on a fast break and lays the ball in for the score against Gwinn on Wednesday in Mountaineer Gym. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — The past three seasons, the Iron Mountain boys varsity basketball team has been amongst the best teams in the Upper Peninsula. However, it struggled to secure a district title.

The Mountaineers are well aware of their finishes, and on Wednesday they silenced the doubters.

Iron Mountain (20-3, 11-1) welcomed Gwinn (2-10, 10-14) to Mountaineer Gym for a Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 District 66 semi final clash.

After opening up a 29-point advantage in the first quarter, the Mountaineers rolled over the Modeltowners en route to a 59-26 win.

“We just wanted to get off to a good start,” IM head coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson said. “The kids did that. Gwinn’s pretty solid with their 3-2 zone; we knew what to expect and attacked it accordingly.

“I’m proud of the kids; I thought they all played pretty well. They all were pretty good in their roles, and we want to continue doing that moving forward.”

The Modeltowners made the trip to Iron Mountain on Feb. 7, and Johnson saw how to attack their zone defense.

“We wanted to get the game sped up because I didn’t think they wanted to play at a fast pace,” Johnson said. “We didn’t shoot the ball that well the first time we played them.

“We got off to a great start, and then you feel good about yourself.”

Iron Mountain senior Oskar Kangas, the 2024-25 West PAC co-Player of the Year, scored 10 straight points in the first two minutes of the game.

“At this point in time, it’s do or die,” Kangas said. “We’re a senior-led group, and this is our last chance at it. The last couple of years haven’t gone the way we wanted them to. So this year, we were really just trying to make a statement right from the get-go.”

The Mountaineers outscored Gwinn 29-0 in the first quarter.

“I think our half-court and full-court defense caused some problems for them,” Johnson said. “We turned them over, then got out in transition and scored the ball how we wanted to.”

They made three 3-pointers in the frame, but it was Kangas’s high-flying performance that sent the Black and Gold faithful into a frenzy.

Kangas rattled the rim twice with two-handed dunks in the first quarter.

“Pregame, I always jump a little bit, see how the legs are feeling, and I thought they were feeling good today,” Kangas said. “Whenever I go up, I just try to put it down as hard as I can.”

The pace slowed down in the second quarter. Two minutes into the frame, senior Ian Marttila opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the left wing, Kangas converted an and-one and the lead grew to 35 points.

Gwinn started a rally in the final four minutes, and it entered halftime trailing 44-9.

At halftime, Johnson made sure to tell his team how happy he was with their effort.

“I told them I was proud of how they came out, and there was no doubt, right from the get-go,” Johnson said. “They kept building off it and playing hard the entire first half. They proved to me that they’re ready to go.”

With the clock running at the start of the third, Iron Mountain’s offensive output slowed down. Gwinn outscored the Mountaineers 17-15 in the final two frames but didn’t have enough in the tank to overcome the sizeable deficit.

Iron Mountain finished with seven made 3-pointers while Gwinn connected on two.

Kangas led all scorers in the contest with 25 points. He also went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

The Mountaineers also received contributions from Gerald Sampoll-Torres (7 points), Marttila (9 points), Evan Copley (11 points), Brayden Kassin (5 points) and Aiden Ellis (2 points).

Now Iron Mountain turns its attention to the District 66 title game against Menominee today at 6 p.m. in Mountaineer Gym.

“The kids have been assigned things to watch, they’ll come,” Johnson said immediately following Wednesday’s win. “The coaching staff will get together. We’ll talk about things. But, at this time of the year, you kind of are who you are. Whoever it is, we’ve just got to play together, play hard and smart. And hopefully, things work out for us.”

While the Maroons have been a thorn in the Mountaineers’ side in the district finals over the past three seasons, those games haven’t been played at Mountaineer Gym.

“Being at home is important,” Johnson said. “You try for that No. 1 seed, which we’ve had three years in a row, and things work out the way they did. But this year, it’s in our favor. We want to come out, protect our home court and win the District 66 championship.”

KNIGHTS 56, JETS 36

NORWAY — Every time the Norway (18-5, 6-2) and North Central (11-12, 3-4) boys varsity basketball teams meet up, you can throw out the rankings.

Despite entering the game as the Associated Press’ No. 11-ranked team in Division 4, the Knights found themselves trailing the Jets after the first quarter in Norway on Wednesday.

Norway rallied over the next 24 minutes and defeated North Central, 56-36, in the MHSAA Division 4 District 100 semifinals to advance to the title game.

Senior Mason Trudeau scored eight points for the Knights in the first quarter. But the Jets jumped off the bus, ready to go. Junior Ben Stage connected on two 3-pointers in the opening frame and Jordan Walters added six, as they pulled out to a 16-12 lead.

Norway kicked off the rally in the second quarter.

It held the Jets to two points in eight minutes while senior Cole Baij racked up five.

As the buzzer sounded on the second, the Knights went into the locker room ahead, 22-18.

The third quarter was all Norway. Trudeau buried two 3-pointers, Baij pitched in nine points and its defense held the Jets to nine.

North Central trailed 44-27 entering the fourth.

Norway senior A.J. Gallino and Jets sophomore Kaden Malone each scored five points in the final frame, but the game was never in question.

Baij and Trudeau led all scorers in the contest with 18 points.

The Knights also received contributions from Gallino (9 points), Bryce Adams (6 points), Anthony Pineda (4 points) and Noah Pearson (1 point).

Walters paced North Central with 11 points.

The Jets also received contributions from Stage (8 points), Malone (5 points), Aydin Burton (2 points), Lane Gorzinski (6 points), Austin Farley (2 points) and Spencer Willa (2 points).

Norway won the 3-point battle with five makes while North Central connected on four.

The Knights head to Crystal Falls today to face Forest Park in the District 100 final at 6 p.m.