IRON RIVER—The months and weeks of fine-tuning are nearly over for West Iron County’s boys basketball team. It’s almost time for the Wykons to show what they can do during the district tournament.

West Iron took on two conference rivals in tourney tune-ups last week, and the Wykons had few problems in either one, as they outgunned Ironwood 60-42 in the Red Devils’ gym Feb. 23 and rolled over Hancock 71-40 back home on Feb. 26.

It wasn’t the team’s final home game of the season—West Iron hosts the District 96 tournament starting March 8.

“Everyone played well,” said Coach Nate Fales after the Hancock game. “We shot the ball extremely well, and everybody who went into the game played hard and executed. That’s nice.”

Sure is. With just a nonconference game left on the schedule, the Wykons are 13-6 overall and 7-3 in the West Pac Conference.

Both games last week, said Fales, followed the same pattern—the Wykons took charge early and never let up.

More good news: After weeks of dealing with illnesses, injuries and ineligibilities, the Wykons nearly have a full roster again, and all the players saw plenty of work last week. No more guards playing in the post.

Fales said the win over Ironwood was encouraging because “If there’s a team we match up with, it’s Ironwood—we’re a mirror image of them at every position. When we match up with a team, we do pretty well.”

West Iron did a good job of covering the Red Devils’ scorers inside. “It became a perimeter game, and that’s where we excel.”

Another similarity is that both teams have rough the same record. Ironwood was coming off back-to-back home wins over West Pac powers Houghton and Calumet Against West Iron, it was a different story.

The Wykons led 14-8 after the first quarter and took command in the second frame, outscoring the Red Devils 19-6 for a 33-14 halftime leads. Paul Angeli scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in that quarter.

Davin Lindwall scored six in the third quarter, and Nick Rosseau had six in the fourth quarter—matching his six in the first quarter.

Angeli led the team with 20 points, Rosseau finished with 17, and Lindwall added nine. “That was a nice road win,” said Fales. “We didn’t make too many mistakes, shot the ball well and defended extremely well. Excellent D.”

Back home against Hancock, the Wykons went to work quickly, scoring the game’s first seven points and building up a 16-6 lead after the first quarter. Angeli scored eight points, and Tanner Mayo added another six.

Hancock rallied briefly in the second quarter, but Lindwall’s seven points boosted the Wykons to a 20-point lead—until a half-court-plus shot by the Bulldogs’ Shane Wendling at the halftime horn cut the margin to 35-18.

It was truly a highlight reel shot, but it had no effect on West Iron’s momentum. A 14-4 Wykon burst in the third quarter built the lead to 49-25—during that spell, West Iron scored on seven straight possessions. Joel Heimerl scored eight points in the third, which ended with West Iron leading 53-34.

Another long WIC rally—15-2 this time—highlighted the fourth quarter. This time, the underclassmen—Nolan McCarthy, Andy Marcell, David and Caleb Pellizzer—got in on the fun, as the seniors mostly got to sit and watch.

“Defensively,” Fales said, “we played pretty well—18 [points allowed] in the first half. Then they started hitting shots, but I think we came back. In the fourth quarter, we played a little D.”

He said Heimerl, who missed time recently with an infected elbow, is getting his bearings again in the post and getting comfortable. “When he does that, it takes pressure off our guards. We had everything working tonight offensively.”

Angeli again finished with 20 points. Mayo scored 12, Heimerl scored 10, followed by Caleb Pellizzer (eight) and Lindwall (seven). The Wykons committed only six fouls all night, and Hancock was 1 of 2 at the free throw line—the Wykons were 7 of 10.

The Wykons’ regular season ends March 2 when they travel to Ishpeming for a non-conference game against the Hematites.

District tournament play begins next Monday, March 8, at the West Iron gym. Stephenson (8-10 as this week started) takes on Iron Mountain (8-11) at 6 p.m., and the Wykons tip off with Norway at 7:45.

The Knights were 12-6 as of Monday and are the only District 96 team West Iron didn’t play during the regular season.

The winners advance to the district title game March 10.

Wykons 14 19 13 14 -- 60
RedDevils 8 6 12 16 -- 42

Bulldogs 6 12 16 6 -- 40
Wykons 16 19 18 18 -- 71