The Mountaineers (22-1) held Westwood to four points in the third quarter to grow its lead from nine points at halftime to 18 points.

“It was a good game as far as our defense goes. We knew it’d be a grinder. Westwood’s pretty patient. The tempo was in our favor I thought early in the game,” Iron Mountain head coach Bucky Johnson said. “We were able to control the tempo of the game and that was a key playing Westwood. Defensively I thought we did a great job. We did a great job attacking the rim. We got them into foul trouble a little bit.”

The Mountaineers face Calumet (18-5) at 7 p.m. (EDT) Wednesday at Marquette High School for the regional championship. The Copper Kings defeated Indian River Inland Lakes 70-26 in the other semifinal Monday.

It’s Iron Mountain’s second straight appearance in the regional title game, going for its first championship since 1994. Mountaineers assistant coach Rick Olds was head coach at the time, while Johnson was his assistant.

Iron Mountain's Charlie Gerhard takes a shot against Westwood during a Class C Region 24 semifinal on Monday in Marquette. (Adam Niemi/The Daily News Photos)

Iron Mountain took a 14-8 lead early in the second quarter before Westwood slowly battled back. The Patriots held the Mountaineers to contested shots which they missed as the Patriots battled for buckets down low to make it a 14-12 game.

Then Westwood (12-10) fell into foul trouble. Iron Mountain’s Marcus Johnson hit a 3-pointer to make a 17-13 lead with about four minutes left in the second quarter. The Mountaineers added on to a little run and led 22-15 at the half.

Iron Mountain’s stingy defense made itself most apparent in the third quarter. Most of Westwood’s shots down low were met with multiple Iron Mountain defenders.

And the Iron Mountain offense picked up even more, starting the second half with a 3-pointer by Foster Wonders and a bucket by Marcus Johnson to create a 29-15 lead.

“We struggled, definitely struggled offensively. Defensively we had some lapses,” Westwood head coach Chad Hewitt said of the third quarter. “You give a team like Iron Mountain a nine-point lead – instead of being down nine you’re down 18. That’s how it goes with a team like Iron Mountain that can shoot and is aggressive.”

The singular play that told the tale of the game came with about three minutes left in the third quarter. Johnson drove the lane, kicked it out to Jacob Tucker on the right wing, who missed a 3. The ball bounced high out of bounds, where Wonders jumped out, passed behind his back to Charlie Gerhard, who drove to the basket for a layup. The bucket gave Iron Mountain a 32-17 lead.

The Mountaineers added another bucket to double Westwood’s score and forcing a Patriots’ timeout.

“That was nice. That was pretty. You get the 50-50 balls and do the little things, you never know when it’s going to be the possession of the game. That’s the difference between winning and losing,” Coach Johnson said. “Scouting Westwood against Ishpeming, they got a lot of the 50-50 balls against them. That was a nice play. Charlie, I wish he would’ve pounded that one because I think he could have.”

Wonders finished with a game-high 21 points and Johnson added 19.

Wonders knocked down four 3-pointers in the game including two apiece in the first and third quarters. He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Coach Johnson said the team will be prepared for Calumet after having a couple tapes of the Copper Kings.

“We’re going to scout the game, look at the tape, practice, get ready,” Johnson said. “We’re going to try to cap this season off by getting a regional championship. We know it’s not going to be easy. Calumet’s a good club, they’ve got some good players. Their role players are pretty good basketball players. We’ll see who comes out of that next game and go from there.”

The second and third quarters made all the difference as Calumet (18-5) ran off 28 straight points.

Copper Kings coach Mike Ojala expects Iron Mountain to be a challenge.

“It’ll be a big-time challenge for sure,” he said. “They’re a good-sized, physical team, good guard play. We’ve got one day to prep for them. We’ll take a look at some film, talk about what we need to do, come out and give it the best we can.”

Junior Matthew Ojala finished with 25 points, eight assists and five steals to lead Calumet while Cooper Twardzik had 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

CALUMET — Harmala 1-0-3, M. Ojala 10-3-25, T. Ojala 3-3-10, McParlan 2-0-4, W. Twardzik 1-0-2, Hyrkas 1-1-4, Torola 1-0-2, C. Twardzik 9-1-20. Totals 28-8-70.

INLAND LAKES — Bishop 1-0-2, Baker 1-0-3, Overholt 1-1-3, LaBreque 1-2-5, Wandrie 6-1-13. Totals 10-4-26.

Score by quarters:

Calumet 13 24 19 14 — 70

Inland Lakes 11 6 3 6 — 26

FT shooting: Calumet 8 of 17 (47.0 percent); Inland Lakes 4 of 5 (80.0 percent)

Westwood 8 7 4 14 – 33

Iron Mountain 12 12 13 12 – 49

WESTWOOD (33): Dellangelo 9, Mason 7, Beckman 7, Hewitt 5, Adriano 2. FT: 9-12. F: 18. FG: 11-42. 3PT: 1-7 (Mason 1). Rebounds: 24 (Delarye 8).

IRON MOUNTAIN (49): Wonders 21, Johnson 19, Gerhard 6, Vicenzi 2, Caudell 1. FT: 10-16. F: 16. FG: 17-39. 3PT: 5-14 (Wonders 4, Johnson 1). Rebounds: 29 (Wonders 9). Assists: 9 (Johnson 5). Steals: 4. Turnovers: 9.