Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Ironwood's Jared Sobolewski passes during Tuesday's game at Cardinal Gym in Ironwood. He had 12 points in Ironwood's big third quarter.
WAKEFIELD - After a sluggish first seven minutes, the Ironwood Red Devils played with a sense of urgency and blitzed Wakefield-Marenisco 69-35 in the final Indianhead Conference game for both teams on Tuesday night.
"We didn't practice well yesterday and we didn't play well in the first seven minutes," Ironwood coach Pete Lewinski said. "I wasn't happy. With one minute left, the light went on. We started to get the ball inside to Jake DiGiorgio and his scoring opened things up for Sharrow on the outside. Paul Hewitt got in foul trouble and Shane Buckley came off the bench and played well for us. Jake played outstanding defense on (Kevin) Lane and held him to six points when he was in there and the bench played the best its played all year."
Ironwood finished the season with an impressive 17-3 regular season record and have won the Indianhead Conference East Division three years running.
Before a large crowd on Parent's Night, Ironwood's Colin Clausen drew first blood with a base-line drive at the 7:05 mark.
Lane answered with free throws and then Nick Tarro picked off a pass and drove down for a lay-up. W-M had its first and only lead at 4-2 .
In the final minute of the quarter, the Red Devils showed some life when DiGiorgio scored inside and then made a terrific reverse lay-up to give Ironwood a 10-6 lead.
But it wasn't a bad quarter for the Cardinals.
"We spread the floor and slowed the ball down and got good shots," W-M coach Terry Fetters said. "The kids were patient."
And the second quarter started well for the Cardinals. Sam Dean made a 3 the hard way with a jump shot and a free throw.
But Lewinski was right when he said the light went on for the Devils and DiGiorgio was just warming up. DiGiorgio slipped a pass to Buckley for a six foot jumper and then added a free throw with 6:40 left. DiGiorgio and Shane Cole exchanged 10-foot jump shots.
Denver Sharrow splashed a pair of deep triples from the same spot in the right corner and DiGiorgio added another putback and was making his presence felt on the inside. He would score 11-points in the first half.
With little time remaining, Clausen drove the lane, pump-faked and tossed in a shot. Ironwood held a 26-14 half-time advantage.
"The third quarter is where we dug ourselves a hole," Fetters said. "We had a hard time scoring tonight and no one reached double figures."
Ironwood out-scored W-M 24-10 and Jared Sobolewski out-scored W-M 12-10. Sobolewski started the third quarter with a turn-around floater and drilled a number of different shots, including a long field goal that brought a big cheer from the Ironwood crowd. When Sobolewski hit a shot off the glass with 11.2 seconds left in the quarter, the Red Devils led 50-24.
"We ran our offense and I was fortunate Lane was in foul trouble," Sobolewski said. "He backed off and didn't have any help. Mr. Lew let me shoot anything inside the 3-point line, so I was going to shoot it. We played unselfishly and we played confidently. We are ready for the districts (tournament)."
Tommy Libertoski started the fourth quarter with a top-of-the-key 3, but it was too little, too late. DiGiorgio was a beast and padded his stat sheet in the fourth quarter.
DiGiorgio topped all scores with 24 points and Sobolewski added his 12 third quarter points.
The Red Devils shot 29-51 (57 percent), while W-M was 11-45 (24 percent.
Ironwood had 20 assists and only nine turnovers.
The Cardinals won the junior varsity game 40-38.
W-M (9-8, 8-8 IC) travels to Ewen Trout-Creek for a Porcupine Mountain battle on Tuesday at 6:30.
Ironwood (17-3, 14-2 IC) doesn't hit the courts again until Mar.9 when they take on L'Anse in the district tournament in Ironwood.
"That's almost two weeks off," Lewinski said. "We'll give the kids a few days off and then hit it hard again. We have two scrimmages lined up. We host the districts and we were 10-0 at home this year. And we'll scout Calumet, Hancock and L'Anse."
Lewinski said Matt Dary has been cleared to play again and will play in the scrimmages.
"He should help us," Lewinski said.
Collin Gagnon did not play for W-M with a dislocated finger, but he may return soon.
Ironwood - Denver Sharrow 8, Colin Clausen 8, Jacob DiGiorgio 24, Jared Sobolewski 12, Jordan Ginnunzio 6, James Giannunzio 2, Desmond Sackmann 3, Shane Buckley 6. FTs: 7-12, Fouls: 14, Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: Sharrow 2, James Giannunzio 1, Sackmann 1.
W-M - Kevin Lane 9, Tommy Libertoski 3, Shane Cole 8, Sam Dean 5, Nick Tarro 2,Wyatt Barto 8. FTs: 11-19, Fouls: 12 , Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: Lane 1, Libertoski 1.
Ironwood 10 26 50 69
W-M 6 14 24 35
