The Knights put a 16-minute scare into their Dickinson County rivals, but the inexperienced and young Mountaineers fought back from a seven-point halftime deficit to outscore Norway 31-6 in the second half to leave with a 47-29 win.

“It was just a heck of a team victory, and I’m really proud of this young team coming down here to Norway and winning by 18 after being down by seven,” Iron Mountain coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson said. “These kids have been around our program for a while and they know that people are coming for us. And we tell them about it. ‘You’re young, but you have to be able to buck up, play physical and not back down.'”

That was Johnson’s team in the second half. It was not in the first. The aggressor in the first 16 minutes, by far, was Norway. Coach Jeff Gallino alternated his defenses in the halfcourt and his players applied serious pressure in its 1-2-2 halfcourt trap. The result was 14 turnovers by Iron Mountain overall and a low shooting percentage through the first two periods.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy in the first half,” Gallino said. “Kids were flying around. I thought the kids were moving on the defensive end and the big guys were active.”

Iron Mountain’s Joey Colavecchi (12) blocks the shot of Norway’s Nolan Amundson (14) as the Mountaineers locked down the Knights with their 2-3 zone defense.

Norway sophomore Alex Ortman scored seven points in the opening quarter and junior Michael Peterson added two hoops to lift the Knights (1-1) to a 13-11 lead heading into the second frame. Peterson and Drew Anderson buried triples in the second quarter, which ended on a late driving hoop by Anderson that gave the Knights a 23-16 lead at the break.

Late in the first half, Johnson changed out of his man-to-man defense and into a 2-3 zone. The move was not immediately beneficial, but it was in the second half. Iron Mountain stopped Norway cold in the third and fourth quarters, giving up just six points.

One of the defensive heroes was junior James Chartier, who locked down the middle of the second line of the zone. With help from Joey Colavecchi and Oskar Kangas on the interior and Ian Marttila and Reece Kangas on the perimeter, Iron Mountain (2-0) completely stymied the Knights’ attack.

“They struggle a little bit shooting the ball and I was real concerned about our rebounding,” Johnson explained. “But the credit goes to the kids. James Chartier came off the bench and he did a hell of a job for us.”

By forcing so many missed shots, the zone allowed the Mountaineers to get into transition more often. Norway committed nine turnovers in the second half and Iron Mountain scored in transition several times.

“I don’t think we were able to find the guy in the high post to be able to break down that 2-3,” Gallino said. We didn’t do a good enough job moving the basketball.”

Iron Mountain’s two more effective offensive players in the game were sharpshooter Reece Kangas and the versatile 6-foot-5-inch freshman Oskar Kangas.

Reece led the way with 16 points while Oskar chipped in with nine.

Norway was led by Anderson with eight points, while Ortman and Amundson scored seven each.

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 247, or jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.