IRON MOUNTAIN — Through the first five and a half minutes against Westwood Thursday night, the UPSSA top-ranked and unbeaten Iron Mountain Mountaineers looked headed for a routine win.

Oskar Kangas started quickly with eight points and Matthew Colvecchi did as well with six as the Mountaineers scored 14 of the game’s first 16 points.

But the Patriots, a tough-minded and physical team that often makes life difficult for their opposition, did not go away and pushed Iron Mountain to the limit before succumbing 62-54 in a West Pac Conference win at Mountaineer Gym.

The final score was not indicative of how close the game got in the fourth quarter when Westwood cut IM’s lead to one three different times.

That was until Mountaineers’ senior Reece Kangas salted the game away with five free throws in the final 50 seconds.

“We’re taking everybody’s best shot, and we know that,” IM coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson said.

“But we were able to fend off a good team and take probably one of their best punches and get a hard-fought victory.”

“That was the first team, beside Kingsford obviously, that made it difficult for us,” said Colavecchi, who referred to his team’s 48-47 victory over the Flivvers on Jan. 16.

“So this was a good win against a good team and I think it will help us.”

It’s been commonplace for the Mountaineers post lopsided victories this season. Coming into Thursday’s game, IM had defeated seven of its first 12 opponents by more than 20 points.

And it looked early on that Thursday’s game would be another on that list.

Colavecchi cut free for three buckets early on after a teammate’s penetration and pass.

Plus, Oskar Kangas’ shot was smooth as silk in the opening quarter as the 6-foot-6 junior scored 13 of his team’s 19 points.

Kangas finished with a game-high 27 points overall.

Kangas also recorded eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in 27 minutes.

“We made it a point to go to him, especially at the start of the game,” Johnson said. “He had a heck of a third quarter too with nine points.

“He was solid tonight.”

Kangas was also tasked with trying to cover Westwood senior Andrew Niemi, whose teammates screened Kangas a multitude of times.

Niemi sank five 3-pointers and finished with 21 points.

“Niemi was stepping out and hitting 3s,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if I’ve seen him shoot that many 3s, but he was hot tonight.”

The Mountaineers (13-0) were able to lockdown Westwood’s talented sophomore Ethan Marta, who poured in 22 the first time the teams played (a 67-43 Iron Mountain win on Jan. 5).

In this game, largely due to the intense hounding by Matthew Colavecchi, Marta was held to eight points on 3 of 10 shooting from the field.

Colavecchi has a unique role with the Mountaineers.

He’s usually assigned to the opposition’s best scorer and he’s not a focal point of the IM offense.

But the senior is athletic and quick, and his motor runs non-stop so his contributions to his team are vital.

“This is his third year with (that role),” Johnson explained.

“I had him as a little kid in camps and stuff and I always knew he was a competitor and that he looked to hoist (shots) up there,” he added.

“But that kind of changed a little bit in terms of what we’ve needed from him. He’s a mature kid, he’s a smart kid, he’s a hard-working kid. He plays hard all the time and that we love about him.”

After a blazing start, the Mountaineers cooled off in the second quarter, scoring just nine points.

And their perimeter shooting struggled for the remainder of the night.

For the game, IM sank just 3 of 15 3-pointers (20 percent).

“Man, we had some good looks that just didn’t drop and they had a couple of guys that scored more than we wanted them to,” Johnson said referring to Reid Frustaglio’s 10 points and Tristan Miller’s nine points. “But we were able to survive that.”

The Kangas brothers combined to score seven quick points in the third quarter as IM increased its three-point halftime lead to eight.

But Niemi came back with a triple and a driving bucket to slice Westwood’s gap to 35-32.

Iron Mountain responded with a 9-4 run that put Westwood back into an eight-point hole, but the Patriots (7-7) never went away.

A 3-pointer by Niemi cut the Mountaineer lead to 48-47 with 4:54 left in the contest.

Westwood pulled to within one again, but Oskar Kangas scored off an inbounds play.

Then Gerald Sampoll Torres sank a free throw and Reece Kangas sealed the win with five free throws in the final minute.

Reese Kangas connected on 9 of 10 free throws and finished with 14 points.

Sampoll Torres scored nine and dished out five assists.

Next up for the Mountaineers is a trip to North Central to face the 6-7 Jets on Monday.

Iron Mountain then kicks off the February portion of its schedule with three-consecutive games at Mountaineer Gym.