Iron Mountain’s Bryce Pietrantonio (22) powers up for a layup in the first half of Tuesday’s MHSAA Division 3 boys basketball regional semifinal at Gladstone High School. Jeffers’ Lance Heinonen (5), Iron Mountain’s Foster Wonders and Jeffers’ Johnny Schutz trail the play. (Eden Laase photo)

GLADSTONE — Iron Mountain built a 20-point lead by halftime and cruised past Jeffers 71-50 in an MHSAA Division 3 boys basketball regional semifinal Tuesday at Gladstone High School.

Foster Wonders, with a game-high 34 points, and fellow senior Bryce Pietrantonio, 15 points, led the Mountaineers’ attack.

Johnny Schutz paced the Jets with 21 points while Christian Hocking added 17 points as Jeffers finished 18-2 on the season.

Right from the get-go, Iron Mountain pushed the tempo. Within the first 2:22, the Mountaineers led 9-0 and Jets head coach John Schutz called a timeout.

“Our first half, and first quarter especially, it was ugly,” Schutz said. “Iron Mountain is definitely as good as advertised. They’re strong, they’re physical and of course they have Foster Wonders. Players like him don’t come around very often”

The Mountaineers forced Jeffers into turnovers with a half-court to 3/4-court press. The Jets didn’t score until the 5:00 mark of the first quarter.

“We got off to a good start tonight, we felt we could pressure them a little bit as we didn’t think they had seen that type of pressure so far this year,” said Iron Mountain head coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson. “Mixing things up the way we did seemed to throw them for a loop to start off.”

The Mountaineers also displayed effective passing.

“Our inside passing was great tonight, we made some nice passes to open players,” Johnson said.

The pace of the game later slowed as the Mountaineers held a 22-point lead at the end of the third stanza.

Schutz noted rebounding was also a huge difference.

“Hats off to those guys, we don’t play teams like them in the Copper Country,” he said. “They out-worked us and out-rebounded us the whole game, and that’s what killed us. We wish them the best of luck.”

The Jets played mainly man-to-man defense, which wasn’t entirely ineffective. It was the Mountaineers’ athleticism and offensive efficiency that Jeffers struggled against.

“Our defense was very active tonight,” Johnson said. “We got several steals, and we cut off some passes for turnovers as well.”

The Mountaineers, who improved to 16-0, travel to Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday night for the MHSAA Regional 17 championship game. Their opponent will be undefeated Oscoda (20-0), who slipped past Charlevoix 60-55 Tuesday night at Johannesburg-Lewiston High School.

“We’re excited to keep marching on in the tournament,” Johnson said. “The Soo’s gym is somewhere we’ve played before, so that’s definitely a plus. We’re familiar with where we’re going to play and we’re starting to familiarize ourselves with our upcoming opponents.”

Tip off from Sault High on Thursday is at 6 p.m. Central time.

Iron Mtn 22 17 15 17 — 71

Jeffers 8 9 15 18 — 50

IRON MTN: Wonders 34, Brown 8, Pietrantonio 15, Evosevich-Hynes 4, Kleiman 6, Basanese 2, Dumais 2; FT 3-4; F: 13; Fouled Out: None; 3-point FG: Wonders 6, Brown 2; Rebounds: 36, Wonders 7, Kleiman 7; Steals: 9, Evosevich-Hynes 3, Pietrantonio 3.

JEFFERS: Frahm 4, Kunishge 3, J. Schutz 21, Mattila 5, Hocking 17; FT: 7-10; F: 9; Fouled Out: None; 3-point FG: Kunishge, Schutz 3, Hocking.