IRON MOUNTAIN – A new era of Iron Mountain boys basketball began Tuesday night, but the Mountaineers scuffled offensively and fell to visiting Gladstone 51-37 in Kyle Johnson’s debut as head coach.

“We struggled tonight but had some open looks early in the game that didn’t fall,” said Johnson, who took over the varsity reigns from his father Harvey “Bucky” Johnson after the latter’s retirement after 25 years as IM’s head coach. “I’m happy with the effort our team gave. We scrapped and rebounded fairly well, which I was pleased with.

“We had a couple of turnovers and breakdowns defensively that hurt us.”

Both teams came out slowly with the Braves (2-0) holding a 7-4 lead after the opening eight minutes. The cold shooting continued in the second quarter when Gladstone stretched its edge to 19-12 at halftime.

The teams began to heat up in the third quarter and each squad put up 13 points as the Braves took a 33-26 advantage into the final stanza.

Gladstone finished strong with 18 points in the fourth to outscore the hosts by seven and post the 14-point win.

“Gladstone is well coached and has two really good guards that can handle the ball and control the game,” Johnson said.

Those guards – Lonnie Davey and Alex Prins – combined for 35 points. Davey finished with 19 and Prins added 16.

The Mountaineers were led by junior Brayden Kassin, the only returning player with significant varsity experience from last year’s team. Kassin scored 11 of his team-high 16 points after halftime.

Iron Mountain will shoot for its first win when they travel to West Iron County (0-1) Friday night.

GLADSTONE – Brunette 1 0-2 3, Miron 2 2-2 7, Davy 7 4-6 19, Prins 7 1-2 16, Inghram 1 0-0 2, Reynolds 0 4-8 4.  Totals: 18 11-20 51. Three-pointers: 4 (Brunette, Miron, Davy, Prins).

IRON MOUNTAIN – Punzel 2 0-5 4, Kassin 6 3-6 16, White 0 0-2 0, Doty 0 2-2 2, Sgrecci 1 0-0 2, Wender 1 0-0 3, Baldridge 3 4-5 10. Totals: 13 9-18 37. Three-pointers: 2 (Kassin, Wender).

North Dickinson 57

Mid Peninsula 18

Ty King scored 17 points and Brady Jungwirth and Jason Graham added 12 apiece as North Dickinson cruised past Mid Peninsula in its season opener on the road Tuesday.

The Nordics led 45-13 at halftime.

Also contributing for North Dickinson were Mason Florenski, eight points; Trenton Kramer, 6 points; and Richard Haney, 2 points.

King led the Nordics in rebounds with 13. Jungwirth was credited with seven steals.

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News Editor Jim Anderson contributed