Unbeaten Red Devils pounce on Panthers

IRONWOOD - Ironwood couldn't miss in the first half as the Red Devils raced past Ewen-Trout Creek 68-50 Tuesday night.

The Devils were 5 of 6 from behind the arc in the first half and 13 of 20 from inside of it. That put the Panthers in a big hole, 45-20 at halftime of the non-conference game.

Knowing they would be outmatched inside against the tall Red Devils, the Panthers started off with a man-to-man defense.

"It didn't go well, so we figured we'd pack it in inside because they got lots of touches inside against our man," E-TC coach Brad Besonen said. "So we pack it inside and they hit everything. They hit every 3 they took, I think, in that first quarter and a half. At that point, you're down 30, we said, 'Let's go work on some things, play some man, try to get in some passing lanes.' I thought our kids kept playing hard, so that was nice to see. We actually got some good things out of this."

Jacob DiGiorgio scored inside to give Ironwood a 29-6 lead 2:15 into the second quarter. The next three shots the Devils made were 3s, one by Denver Sharrow and back-to-back triples by Luke Hewitt. DiGiorgio was then fouled - on a 3 attempt no less - and he made all three to put Ironwood up 41-10.

"I thought our fast start left a mark on the game and set the tone for the game," Ironwood coach Pete Lewinski said. "We came out on fire, we shot the ball well, very relaxed as far as the offensive end is concerned. We just want to improve everyday and every game. I thought our D was good also. I don't know if the Panthers were cold a little bit or our D had something to do with it; I'd like to think it did."

Ironwood improved to 8-0 with the win. The Devils are one of three Class ABC teams in the U.P. without a loss, but unlike Iron Mountain (6-0) and Ishpeming (4-0), they aren't ranked in the U.P. poll.

"It's a shame they're not ranked right now," Besonen said. "I think the biggest thing with that is not being in Michigan all the time with their games. That's too bad for their kids."

The Devils aren't concentrating on that.

"It's nice to get recognized, but we don't care about that," Lewinski said. "There are very good teams in the U.P. We want to fly under the radar and continue to get better everyday in practice and games and let it fall at the end where we are."

Ironwood didn't lose until its fifth game last season - at Ashland - but the Devils are unscathed so far through eight games this year, including a win over the Oredockers.

"Our start this year at 8-0 is a testament to these kids' hard work in the summer and in the offseason," Lewinski said. "An example, Denver Sharrow on Friday, the cold day, no school, comes in to shoot. He comes in, below zero weather, he's in the gym shooting for two or three hours. These kids are working all the time, DiGiorgio, Sharrow, (Matt) Dary. They're working when nobody's around and it shows on the court."

DiGiorgio led Ironwood with 20 points. He has scored 20 or more points in three of Ironwood's four games in 2015. Sharrow scored 14 and Jared Sobolewski had 12.

Jack Boro led E-TC with 13 points and he had seven rebounds.

"Jack had his best game of the year for sure," Besonen said. "The biggest thing is in the first half, he was the only at the beginning of the game who wasn't afraid to actually go and bump with Jake and Dary. He kind of held his own, where the rest of us really just got pushed around inside at the beginning of the game."

E-TC (2-5) heads to Watersmeet Friday. Watersmeet hasn't played a Porcupine Mountain Conference game yet, while the other three teams are 1-1 in the PMC.

"We played well there last year in one of the few wins that we had," Besonen said. "We need a good, solid game against them. If our big guys can play inside like they did in the second half, we'll have a shot."

Ironwood hosts Solon Springs Thursday for an Indianhead Conference game.

E-TC - Alan Goll 3, Tanner Driesenga 5, Landon Maki 3, Jacob Witt 9, John Berglund 7, Jacob Moilanen 8, Cyle Wascher 2, Jack Boro 13. FTs: 3-8. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Driesenga. 3-pointers: Goll 1, Driesenga 1, Maki 1, Berglund 1, Moilanen 1.

Ironwood - Denver Sharrow 14, Luke Hewitt 6, Colin Clausen 3, Ryan Sobolewski 2, Shane Buckley 2, Jacob DiGiorgio 20, Jared Sobolewski 12, Matt Dary 9. FTs: 11-18. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Sharrow 2, Hewitt 2, Dary 1.

E-TC 4 20 32 50

Ironwood 20 45 62 68