Manistique senior Colton Hoholik drives to the basket as Iron Mountain freshman Marcus Johnson defends on Thursday in Iron Mountain. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Adam Niemi)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Manistique stumbled out of the gate with a four-point first quarter as Iron Mountain rolled to a 76-26 Mid-Peninsula Conference win on Thursday.

The Mountaineers (9-1, 4-1 M-PC) were led by Carson Wonders’ 25 points and Marcus Johnson’s 24 points. Johnson also led the team with seven assists and five steals.

“I thought the kids passed the ball to who they needed to pass it to for the most part,” Iron Mountain coach Bucky Johnson said. “Marcus had a really good game all the way around. We rebounded the basketball well.”

Wonders led IM with 14 of its 43 rebounds.

Manistique never found the rhythm it needed to keep up with Iron Mountain.

“We got outplayed by a better team and we got outhustled definitely,” Emeralds coach Ed Marietti said. “Rebounding was bad in the first quarter especially. They were getting three, four shots as we were standing around watching.

“We give up a ton of layups, fast breaks. They get a rebound and we have two or three guys trying to get it back, they go down the court 2-on-1, 3-on-1, 2-on-nothing.”

The Emeralds’ energy raised as Wonders found foul trouble in the second quarter. He was substituted after his third foul with about 2 1/2 minutes to go in the first half.

Iron Mountain held a 41-20 halftime lead. The Emeralds tried to ignite offensively, but came out flat in the second half, scoring a combined six points in the last two quarters.

“We haven’t played well in the last three, four games and it’s just compounding,” he said. “We got games coming up now that we got opportunities to win. At least if we play, to be in it. Just a long night.”

Iron Mountain JVs won 59-35.