Theresa Proudfit/The Daily News IRON MOUNTAIN’S FOSTER Wonders looks to drive against Norway’s Logan Parolini during Monday’s MHSAA Division 3 District 65 first round contest.

IRON MOUNTAIN — After a highly-contested first quarter, which saw the visiting team come out shooting like gangbusters, the home team regrouped. In the end, Iron Mountain cruised past long-time rival Norway 77-46 here Monday night in MHSAA Division 3 District 65 first round action.

Iron Mountain junior Foster Wonders led all scorers with 33 points, including a two-handed slam dunk off an alley-oop pass from senior Marcus Johnson in the second half.

Johnson netted 23 points, with Johnson and Wonders each grabbing five rebounds. Johnson dished out five assists and had four steals.

Junior Logan Parolini led the Knights with 14 points, while fellow junior Jeff VanHolla chipped in 11 points in the loss, as the Knights ended their season at 13-8.

Norway came out with high energy, shooting successfully from long range. The Knights jumped out to a 9-4 lead after the Mountaineers scored the first four points of the game. The first quarter was very fast paced, with both teams looking to score out of transition.

The first stanza ended with Norway holding a slight lead. The fast pace for both teams kept up until about the midway point of the second quarter, when the pace began to slow. At that point, the Mountaineers kicked their defense into high gear.

“Norway came out, Jeff (Gallino) had his kids ready to play, and they shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter,” said Mountaineers head coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson. “Give Norway credit, they were ready and they’ve improved since we last played them in December, but so have we. March is a different animal, it’s win or go home and they were playing with that type of excitement.

“As the game wore on, we got better defensively. Foster had an outstanding night offensively for us, Marcus attacked the basket, we did what we do,”

Wonders’ second-half slam drew an eruption from the IM student section, and even the typically calm and cool junior let his excitement show.

The Mountaineers held the Knights to single-digit points in both the second and third quarters, essentially putting the game away.

“I thought in the first half, we came out and played great,” said Knights head coach Jeff Gallino. “In the second half, we stopped running our offense and started turning the ball over, and Iron Mountain controlled the tempo. They’re a phenomenal team. It’s very hard to simulate Iron Mountain’s ball pressure and half court defense in practice. They are very good at making you uncomfortable with your offense.”

Iron Mountain’s post players — seniors Jake Dumais and Tony Feira — limited Norway center Kody Hendricks to seven points.

“We knew that Hendricks is a big and strong load under there, he’s tough to contain,” said coach Johnson.

“Defensively, IM made it difficult for us to get ball entry, in to Kody, throughout most of the game,” said Gallino.

“Jake Dumais guarded him (Hendricks) for the most part, and did a great job on him and I am really proud of him for that,” said Johnson. “Because we were concerned about Hendricks, we haven’t played against a big post player like him this year, and he’s the best ones we may play all year.”

“Our season up to tonight, was great,” said Gallino. “We shared the (Skyline Central) conference championship with Munising, and the kids came to work every day and I am super proud of them.”

Gallino also noted that he’ll miss all his seniors, as they are a great group of kids. “You can’t say enough good things about Kody Hendricks, he works hard in practice and is a leader on the floor. We’re all going to miss him,” he said.

Along with Hendricks, starter Parker Lasater, Nathan Paulitch, Cameron Clifford and Mark Gaus all played their last game in a Knights basketball uniform.

As for the Mountaineers, they improved to 20-1 on the season, and move on to the District 65 semifinal game on Wednesday night, traveling to Ironwood to face the Red Devils (8-12), who defeated Hancock 68-44 at Hancock Monday night.

“Tonight was a good win, the first one (tournament) is tough to get, but we got it. We move on to the next game, and get ready for Ironwood.” said coach Johnson.

Norway 16 8 9 13 — 46

IM 14 21 18 24 — 77

NORWAY: Paulitch 2, Amundson 3, Bray 2, VanHolla 11, Lasater 5, Hendricks 7, Parolini 14, Degenaer 2. FT: 7-11. F: 10. 3-pt FG: Amundson, Lasater, VanHolla, Hendricks, Parolini (3). FO: None. Rebounds: 20.

IRON MOUNTAIN: Evosevich-Hynes 8, Brown 3, Jake Dumais 4, Feira 6, Wonders 33, Johnson 23. FT: 3-5. F: 13. FO: None. 3-pt FG: Brown, Johnson, Evosevich-Hynes, Wonders (5). Rebounds: 27 (Feira 8).