Devil of a defeat

MARQUETTE - Ironwood didn't have an answer for Iron Mountain's physical presence inside and the Red Devils' season ended in a 72-52 loss in Monday's Class C regional semifinal.

The Moutaineers, 21-2 and ranked second in the final U.P. Class ABC poll of the season, started fast, leading 17-4 going into the second quarter. The Devils made three straight 3s to start the second and pull within 17-13, but Iron Mountain scored the next 15 points to thwart Ironwood's comeback effort.

The Red Devils season ends at 19-4. They made the regionals two years in a row, but they weren't able to make it back-to-back trips to the regional final.

"We're happy with our season," Ironwood coach Pete Lewinski said. "A lot of teams would take that record, but we wanted to get to the finals Wednesday. It didn't happen tonight. That's disappointing, but we had a very fine season. I told the boys there's nothing to be ashamed of. Iron Mountain took it to us and won. That happens sometimes. I just wish we could have played a little better (Monday). We didn't play that well, missed some shots, dropped some passes. It snowballed on us."

Ironwood didn't have its typical advantage inside with three guys at 6-2 or bigger. Iron Mountain was more physical inside and never let the Devils establish anything besides those second-quarter 3s. Ironwood rarely got second shots, while Iron Mountain often did, winning the rebound battle 38-22.

"They're physical and they're big, I thought they had something to do with it," Lewinski said. "I think we got down right away and we didn't go inside like we should have. We were settling for the outside shot."

Iron Mountain coach Harvey Johnson agreed.

"I think our size and strength had something to do with that," he said. "Jake Thomann's a big kid, he's physical, not afraid of contact. Carson's (Wonders) a big physical kid. (Brock) Grenier's a big, physical kid. We have three guys who are strong and physical, they pay attention to the details. I think throughout our season, playing against the teams we play against, it helps us get ready for a game like this. We play some pretty tough competition with big, physical big men. If you don't play pretty physical, you get beat."

All but two of Iron Mountain's 17 first-quarter points came either under the basket or at the free throw line. Carson Wonders (6-3) scored the first six points for Iron Mountain.

"What I think we did the best tonight is we got off to a great start, both early in the game and the third quarter," Johnson said. "That maybe took the wind out of Ironwood's sails."

"We missed some shots that were makeable shots," Lewinski said. "They're physical. They play good defense."

The Devils came charging back, hitting three 3s to start the second quarter. Colin Clausen drained two and Denver Sharrow, who led Ironwood with 19 points, hit another. That pulled Ironwood within 17-13.

Iron Mountain called timeout.

"I just said, 'They're a good basketball team, we know they're capable of making runs, but we just have to do what we're capable of doing,'" Johnson said. "It wasn't like our hands were down. They were in what I call a dribble-drive set and it's just one-on-one and they pulled up and shot it. We had in our scouting report that they weren't afraid to shoot the outside shot. ... We guarded them a little bit closer and used a couple switches when they had the dribble handoff."

The Mountaineers struck right back, scoring the next 15 points. That included three 3s by Tanner Huotari as Iron Mountain built the lead to 32-13.

Ironwood's Luke Hewitt finally broke the run with a 3, but Iron Mountain went into the second half with a 35-20 advantage.

Iron Mountain built the lead as large as 30 points in the fourth quarter and will play Boyne City, which beat Ishpeming 50-43 Monday, in the regional final Wednesday at Marquette.

Ironwood's leading scorer this season Jake DiGiorgio scored 17, but 13 came in the fourth quarter and none in the first half. He played mostly on the outside in the first half.

"We were trying to put Jake on the outside to take advantage of their big guys defending him and try to have Jake drive around them," Lewinski said. "That didn't work out that well. That's why we put Jake out the perimeter, because he's capable of playing out on the perimeter. We didn't take advantage. Jake did not get to drive like we thought he was going to."

Sharrow had 17 of his points in the first three quarters.

"I was happy with Denver Sharrow's play, but that was about it," Lewinski said. "I think some of us didn't show up to play tonight. It was disappointing in that regard. As far as a regional tournament game, we didn't like the performance of some of our guys. We told them what Iron Mountain was going to do, but they've got to perform on the court. One guy showed up, in my mind, that really had a good game. I'm not taking anything away from Iron Mountain, but we didn't play as well as we could have. Iron Mountain, give them credit, they really took it to us and they deserved to win the game."

Huotari led Iron Mountain with 23 points and Wonders had 21.

"Wonders is a real deal as a sophomore. He's a really tough player," Lewinski said.

Lewinski said he appreciated the support from the student body and community members. A big crowd made the trip to Marquette.

Iron Mountain - Tanner Huotari 23, Carson Wonders 21, Jake Thomann 10, Kyle Johnson 5, Brock Grenier 2, Cole Rossato 2, Mark Beauchamp 2, Jacob Mongrain 2, Jake Cousineau 3, Derek Klarich 2. FTs: 10-13. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Huotari 5, Johnson 1.

Ironwood - Denver Sharrow 19, Luke Hewitt 3, Zach Combs 2, Colin Clausen 9, Jake DiGiorgio 17, Matt Dary 2. FTs: 10-15. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Sharrow 3, Clausen 2, Hewitt 1.

Iron Mountain 17 35 55 72

Ironwood 4 20 32 52