Austin Hemmingson/Daily Press Photo Iron Mountain’s Marcus Johnson attempts a shot through Gladstone defenders Lucas Hughes (34) and Caden Alworden (left) during Monday’s game at Gladstone. Looking on for the Mountaineers is Tony Feira (40).

GLADSTONE — With last year’s Division 3 state finalist Iron Mountain in town, the gym was packed for Monday’s Mid-Peninsula Conference boys basketball game in Gladstone. The Braves hung with the Mountaineers for a while, but Iron Mountain’s talent was too much to overcome as the Mountaineers came away with a 79-64 victory.

Gladstone (2-3, 2-1 M-PC) came out super aggressive, attacking the rim and trading IM bucket for bucket. Noah Ballard was particularly aggressive, scoring seven of his 14 points in the opening frame and putting the Braves up 17-14 with a free throw with 1:21 left in the quarter.

Iron Mountain, however, scored the final five points of the period and took its first lead on a pullup 3-pointer by 6-foot-5 star junior forward Foster Wonders with 56 ticks left to go into the second quarter up 19-17.

“Gladstone was ready to play,” IM coach Bucky Johnson said. “They attacked us off the dribble hard. They’re athletic kids and they’re strong. They went to the basket pretty well. We really haven’t faced a team like that this year that attacks off the dribble like that.”

The Mountaineers (5-0, 3-0 M-PC, 2-0 West PAC) then began to get some separation in the second quarter, going on a 10-0 run to lead 30-20 after a pair of free throws by star senior point guard Marcus Johnson with 3:36 left in the first half. They led 38-27 at halftime.

“On the road, I think we responded well,” coach Johnson said. “I just told the kids that teams are after us. That’s two games in a row now where we didn’t have the greatest first quarter… We had a nice spurt there in the second quarter and got going a little bit. We know we’re going to get everyone’s best shot.”

Iron Mountain really started to pull away in the third quarter, gaining a 51-31 cushion on a transition dunk by Wonders with 4:33 remaining.

“To be honest, I really thought the game came down to one bad quarter. Not that we didn’t play well, but I thought they played really well in the third quarter and kind of opened it up on us,” Braves’ coach Dane Quigley said. “We just didn’t have enough to come back there, and that’s what it kind of came down to. My guys are dog tired right now… It was a dogfight of a game. I think I played eight or nine guys, and every one of them is just mentally and physically exhausted right now.”

As they did all night, the Braves battled back and pulled to within 60-47 at the end of the quarter on a left-handed running 3-pointer by right-handed Rane Castor over the outstretched arm of Wonders at the buzzer.

“I saw a lot of good things out of our team tonight. I saw a lot of spirit, a lot of character, a lot of fight — all things that I’ve been waiting to see,” Quigley said. “We’ve been kind of trying to find out what the identity of our team is, and we really haven’t gotten off to good starts in the last four games. We really needed to do this tonight, and so to have that start was really crucial for us to be able to play the way we did.”

The Braves got to within 62-51 after a driving layup by Ballard with 5:30 left in the game, but the Mountaineers responded with another 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.

“It was a game we really needed, and I don’t like that whole moral victory thing, but I’m really proud of the way my guys played, and I told them that,” Quigley said. “It just kind of shows us that if they play to the level that they’re capable of playing, and if they match the level of intensity that other teams are playing at, they can hang around with good competition.

“It’s a confidence-builder. If we take one thing out of this game tonight, it’s confidence. It’s something to build off of to know that we can play with this type of competition.”

Wonders led IM with 26 points, six rebounds and four assists. Johnson chipped in 19 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Jake Dumais added 19 points and 11 boards. Ten of his points came in the first quarter.

Castor led the Braves with 18 points, while Ballard added 14 and Lucas Hughes chipped in 12.

Gladstone won the jayvee game.

The Braves host Gwinn Friday, while IM visits Westwood.

IM 19 19 22 19 — 79

Gladstone 17 10 20 17 — 64

IRON MOUNTAIN: Wonders 26, Brown 4, Johnson 19, Evosevich-Hynes 2, Feira 7, Ja. Dumais 19, Pietrantonio 2. F: 16; Fouled out: None. FT: 28-39; 3-point field goals: Wonders 3.

GLADSTONE: Alworden 3, St. John 5, C. Ballard 9, N. Ballard 14, Hughes 12, Castor 18, Polley 3. F: 24; Fouled out: None. FT: 7-14; 3-point field goals: Alworden, St. John, C. Ballard, Castor, Polley.