Pat Krause/Daily Globe Photo West Iron County's Brayden Nelson (10), Ironwood's Ian Averitt, left, and Jacob Joki reach for a rebound Wednesday night at John Krznarich Gym in Ironwood. The Wykons held the Red Devils to one fourth-quarter point in the 48-36 Class C District 94 decision. Iron Mountain (20-1) hosts West Iron (11-10) at 6 Friday for the district title and berth in next week’s regional in Marquette.

IRON MOUNTAIN — Top-ranked Iron Mountain will host district title-starved West Iron County Friday for a berth in the Class C Region 24 boys basketball tournament in Marquette.

The Mountaineers (20-1) and Wykons (11-10) will meet at 6 p.m. The winner will face Ishpeming (15-6) or Westwood (11-9) in a regional semifinal beginning at 4:30 p.m. (Central time) Monday. Calumet, West PAC co-champion with WIC, will take on Harbor Springs or Indian River Inland Lakes in the other regional semifinal.

While Iron Mountain held off Norway 50-47 in one Class C District 94 semifinal Wednesday, West Iron dumped Ironwood 48-36 in the other.

The Wykons held the Red Devils to one fourth-quarter point.

“It came down to we went to a man defense and we didn’t give them any easy cuts through the lane,” said WIC Coach Dan Schive. “It was a little more physical than I thought it would be, but that’s tournament basketball.

“Our defense has been pretty solid all year. We’re good when we bump the cutters. And it’s nice to have a 6-8 guy (Steven Nelson) behind everybody.”

The two teams met just once in the regular season. Iron Mountain, behind 25 points from sophomore Marcus Johnson and 24 from freshman Foster Wonders, downed West Iron 71-55 in late January at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium.

Coach Bucky Johnson’s Mountaineers overcame foul trouble to claim a 30-29 halftime lead. They wound up converting 24 of 36 free throws while the Wykons made 9 of 17.

Nelson led the Wykons with 22 points, 24 rebounds and six blocks. Cade Pellizzer added 13 points.

Iron Mountain won last year’s district championship. West Iron County’s last district title came in 2000 on the Mountaineers’ floor.

The Wykons, coached by Rae Drake Jr, captured a fourth straight West PAC title. They held 10 regular-season foes to under 40.

In the district semifinal, West Iron trailed a young Norway team 24-20 at the half before recovering for a 59-53 win.

“I wasn’t a sweety pie in the locker room,” Drake said.

Ben Leiker’s Norway team had a lineup with sophomores Tony Mendina and Jon Belaire.

Iron Mountain, coached by Matt Wonders, downed a shorthanded Stephenson squad in reaching the district finals.

The Mountaineers’ coach, who once played for Drake at Iron Mountain, expected an “in-your-face” defensive battle with an emphasis on denying passes.

Sure enough.

West Iron’s hard-nosed defense and methodical offense carved out a 34-31 win over the Mountaineers. Matt Lindahl hit a key bucket in the closing seconds.

Jesse Lowden led the Wykons with 16 points and was credited with holding Ryan Pericolosi to two points. Ben Olsen was the Mountaineers’ standout, scoring 15 points and shutting down Levi Nieminen.

West Iron County then lost to Negaunee 41-35 in the regional semifinals.