Iron Mountain’s Foster Wonders takes a shot against Kingsford on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Iron Mountain, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Foster Wonders scored 19 points in his debut to help Iron Mountain beat Kingsford 60-45 on Wednesday.

Wonders, a freshman who was out with a stress fracture in his foot, hit three 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds, while shooting 4 of 4 on free throws.

But it took Iron Mountain a while to get going, holding just a 4-2 lead for most of the first quarter. Then the No. 4 Mountaineers (8-0) got going offensively while limiting Kingsford’s shooting opportunities. Kingsford was out-rebounded 30-13 on the night.

“We didn’t get off to the greatest start offensively. We’re kind of a — I don’t want to say we’re a new team out on the court — but with Foster in there it’s a new look,” Iron Mountain head coach Bucky Johnson said. “Jaden (Vicenzi) switched from the three to the two. Foster’s in at the three. We’re a work in progress and we’re going to get better offensively. We didn’t execute the greatest and we’re going to get better at that. Defensively, we held them to 13 points in the first half. Terrian didn’t score in that first half which was big.”

Fosters’ offense was supported with 18 points from Vicenzi and 15 from Marcus Johnson, who also had six assists and seven rebounds.

Tyler Beauchamp led Kingsford with 17 points and Luke Terrian added 10.

The Flivvers (4-3) seemed to be stuck in neutral for much of the night as they missed shots and opportunities to slow Iron Mountain down.

But with Luke Terrian fighting the flu and puking at halftime, Kingsford mounted what offense it could against the lengthy Mountaineers, although it came too late. Iron Mountain led 19-4 midway through the second quarter and held a 29-13 halftime lead.

“On our side, Luke Terrian felt terrible. He was sick at halftime, sick after the game,” Kingsford head coach Dan Olkkonen said. “He’s been battling hard on trying to stay healthy in there. He’s a big part of our scoring at 15 points a game. He had 10 points there.”

“The first half, getting down by 15 really hurt us. Marcus did a great job. We kind of set up play there to pick up his fourth foul. You have to understand that he’s going to back off on defense a little bit. For us, the interior points were difficult. Good opportunities in the first half, we were just worried about getting shots blocked or whatever it was. We didn’t get them to connect and that really hurt us.”

Olkkonen knew Tuesday would be a tough game because of Iron Mountain’s length. Ranked by the Associated Press as the No. 4 Class C team in the state, the Mountaineers now have five players 6-foot-3 and higher. Wonders, at 6-foot-4, made it even harder for Kingsford battling on the inside.

“We tried getting Tyler and Luke to drive and get to the line. We had two free throws in the first half. Again, it might be a no-call or a foul but I don’t think we deserved the fouls because we shied away from the contact,” Olkkonen said. “They have a good team and I thought it was a good game. We definitely don’t hang our heads. It definitely wasn’t for a lack of effort on our side. We were getting beat up on the rebound part of it. I’ve been watching films of Gerhard this year. The kid’s about a foot over everybody. I thought we did a way better job in the second half on the rebounding part. I’m proud of the kids and the battle that they had out there. They just got some talent.”

Iron Mountain is also tied with Escanaba by the UP Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association as the No. 2 Class ABC team in the UP.

Kingsford made a point of driving against Johnson, who committed his third foul with three minutes left in the first half. With his fourth foul coming about halfway in the third, Kingsford never found a way to elicit a fifth foul as Johnson backed off defensively. And with so much height behind Johnson down low, Kingsford never found a rally to tighten the score in the second half.

Coach Johnson said the defensive rebounds went a long way to limit Kingsford’s offense to one possession for much of the game.

“I was real happy with our rebounding, especially our defensive rebounding,” Johnson said. “We didn’t let them have many second shots and got to the glass pretty well.”

Olkkonen said he was impressed with Wonders in his debut.

“The introduction of Foster Wonders into the high school basketball world is pretty impressive when he can come out and go 4 for 4 from the line and 19 points,” Olkkonen said. “Really skilled. Happy for them to have a kid like that.”

Johnson said Wonders’ addition is long-awaited and the offense will continue evolving as the team gets reaquainted with him in the lineup. The scoring burden for Marcus is relieved as Wonders joins the lineup and forces defenses into a dilemma about who to cover — or how to limit the damage.

“(Marcus) knows what Foster does, he trusts Foster. You saw us go into some screen and rolls at the end of some quarters and stuff with those two. It’s going to be exciting,” Coach Johnson said. “As far as scoring the basketball, we all know that Marcus can score and he knows Foster can. We’re a work in progress offensively. We know we have guys that are capable of taking over games. Foster’s definitely in that mix for sure. It makes us better offensively. Tonight at times we showed that and at times we didn’t so that’ll be a work in progress.”

Kingsford JV mounted a furious rally from 17 points down to beat Iron Mountain 50-47. Iron Mountain freshman won.

Kingsford 4 9 16 16 — 45

Iron Mountain 12 17 15 16 — 60

KINGSFORD (45): Beauchamp 17, Terrian 10, VanRemortel 4, Gayan 4. FT: 7-10. F: 12. Rebounds: 13.

IRON MOUNTAIN (60): Wonders 19, Vicenzi 18, Johnson 15, Gerhard 8. FT: 9-10. F: 16. FG: 22-48. 3PT: 7-22 (Wonders 3, Johnson 2, Vicenzi 2). Rebounds: 30 (Gerhard 8). Assists: 13 (Johnson 6). Turnovers: 13.