Iron Mountain’s Owen Caudell takes a shot against Menominee on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018, in Iron Mountain, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

IRON MOUNTAIN — A 25-7 run in the first quarter helped Iron Mountain ease past Menominee with a 76-38 non-conference win on Friday.

The Mountaineers (18-1) were helped by a pair of double-doubles from Marcus Johnson and Foster Wonders.

Johnson scored 24 points and dished out 10 assists. Wonders scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

“I thought for our guys we got off to a good start with 25 points in the first quarter. In that first quarter, a lot of guys were involved in the offense,” Iron Mountain head coach Bucky Johnson said. “We shot the ball pretty well overall from the field. Marcus had 24 points and 10 assists. Foster had 25 points and 10 rebounds. It’s nice to see a couple guys get double-doubles. Defensively we had some things that we broke down on that we got to get better at. But overall, everybody got to play. It was a good victory.”

Keagan Monroe led Menominee (1-16) with 16 points. Kyle Anderson added 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.

“I thought we played hard and had good intensity, just the execution wasn’t always there,” Menominee head coach Sam Larson said. “Playing against Iron Mountain, they’re one of the premiere teams in the UP, so we knew we were going to have our hands full just from a skill level aspect. I thought we really did put forth a good effort tonight.”

Johnson said his Mountaineers responded well in the first quarter, the team’s first action since losing their first game of the season to Ishpeming on Wednesday.

“That was a tough game. We put that behind us. Hopefully we learned from it,” Johnson said. “The kids came out and put up 25 points in the first quarter. They responded. I think we gave up only seven. Any time you start off a game 25-7 in the first quarter, that means you’re ready. I was just proud of them for that. I thought throughout the night we did a pretty good job. We rebounded the ball pretty well and got our transition game going.”

Wonders was whistled for a technical foul after hitting the backboard while going up for a block in the first quarter. The Mountaineers committed just eight fouls. Menominee, facing a tall task defensively against the Mountaineers, fell into foul trouble early. Brendan Harris fouled out and the Maroons ended the game with 19 fouls. Larson said many of the fouls happened when help defense rushed to the ball handler

“Our defensive position wasn’t very good. We were letting people get by us,” Larson said. “We were giving up dribble penetration which forced our help side guys to come over and they were a little late and we racked up fouls that way.”

Johnson credited his bench for keeping up the tempo in the second half. Four players entered the game off the bench and scored a combined seven points.

“These kids like Marcus and Foster and Charlie and Jaden, these guys get the majority of the playing time. I really can’t say enough about those kids, the five seniors that don’t start and the other guys,” Johnson said. “I thought it was really nice to get them in the game and I thought they did a really good job. Zach hit some shots and Owen distributed the ball out there. Michael Kulas plays hard all the time. It was just great to get those guys in there. They certainly deserve it — they come to every practice and work hard for us. I’m just real proud to be their coach.”

Iron Mountain JV won 45-29.

The Mountaineers host Negaunee on Tuesday, while Menominee hosts Carney-Nadeau.

Menominee 7 11 13 7 — 38

Iron Mountain 25 19 19 13 — 76

MENOMINEE (38): Monroe 16, Anderson 12, Kuester 6, Hornick 2, Polaski 2. FT: 1-3. F: 19 (Harris fouled out). FG: 16-49. 3PT: 5-21. Rebounds: 24 (Anderson 6).

IRON MOUNTAIN (76): Wonders 25, Johnson 24, Gerhard 8, Feira 8, Vicenzi 4, Celello 3, Tucker 2, Caudell 1, Erickson 1. FT: 16-24. F: 8. Technical foul: Wonders. FG: 26-56. 3PT: 8-21 (Johnson 5, Wonders 3). Rebounds: 36 (Wonders 10). Assists: 17 (Johnson 10). Steals: 11 (Gerhard 5).