But while the Mountaineers have shown signs of going on extended runs this season, they still seem to be a work in progress, with basically a completely different roster than last year.

“We got off to a pretty good start and we had the tempo in our favor, then we stopped making baskets and that changed our defense a bit,” said coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson in reference to his team’s 1-2-2 halfcourt trap. “And we got tired a bit.

“We got the victory, but we’ve got a lot to work on. We’re a young team and we’re still trying to find our identity a little bit,” he added.

Junior Joey Colavecchi, the point man on the top of the 1-2-2 trap, scored six points in the opening quarter, as did sophomore Reece Kangas, who knocked down two triples.

Iron Mountain’s Oskar Kangas (0) goes up and over Gwinn defenders for an offensive rebound in the Mountaineers’ 48-40 win in front of their home fans Friday night. Kangas finished with 17 points to lead all scorers.

Up 10 entering the second quarter, junior center Ezekiel Runsat scored inside twice and caused a steal that led to a layup by Colavecchi to give Iron Mountain (4-1, 2-1) a 26-10 lead.

The trapping defense caused some of Gwinn’s 13 turnovers on the game and it did get the Modeltowners (1-5, 1-2) in helter-skelter mode at times.

“We watched Gwinn in a few other games and we saw that maybe we could employ that,” Johnson said of the defense. “And I thought at times we did a pretty good job of it. At times we didn’t rotate well in the backline but we’ve got some athletic kids that can move.”

Oskar Kangas finished with 17 points to lead all scorers. Colavecchi and Runsat added 10 each.

With both Kangas and Runsat at 6-foot-5, the Mountaineers had a significant size advantage on the Modeltowners, who have just one player over 6-foot in their rotation.

Gwinn’s Travis Johnson (14) reaches out to get a hand in the face of Mountaineer Reece Kangas (42), who looks to knock down a 3-pointer in the first half against the visiting Modeltowners on Friday. Kangas hit three triples in the Mid-Peninsula/West Pac Conference clash.

Johnson said his bigs played well in the game.

“‘Zeke’ had one of his better games tonight, and Oskar had a heck of a game rebounding the ball and scoring the points he had,” the coach said. “‘Zeke’ did a pretty good job on the backline of our press there and got some steals for us.”

Kangas and Runsat combined for eight points to start the fourth quarter to lift Iron Mountain to a 48-28 lead with 3:25 remaining. Soon after, Johnson gave his starters, except point guard Ian Marttila, the rest of the night off.

Next up for the Mountaineers is a battle with neighbor and third-ranked Kingsford (5-1).

“Hopefully it’s a packed house and hopefully it’s loud,” Johnson said. “You know, we’ve missed that the last few years.”

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