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Getting out the sander, Forest Area soon had those rusty spots polished up and finished strong to take a 62-52 victory.

The Warriors improved their record to 5-2 overall and lifted their conference mark to 3-1 heading into Tuesday night's big league showdown with Mancelona.

Playing the Ironmen, 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, on their home floor gave the Warriors a welcome advantage. But they still expected a difficult struggle.

Inland Lakes enjoyed a height advantage over the Warriors last Thursday, but its youth became a major factor late in the game when the Warriors put the pressure on.

Forest Area started the game a little sluggish, but quickly found its footing and finished the first quarter with a 22-13 lead.

The Warriors picked up more steam in the second quarter, outscoring Inland Lakes, 16-14 to take an 11-point lead, 38-27, into the halftime break.

Leading the Warriors was Tyler Denike, who poured in 23 points and added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

Bob Hatfield, the team's starting center, finished the game with 14 points and 8 rebounds.

In his first start on the varsity, freshman guard Carl Snyder scored 10 points and had 5 rebounds. Mitchell Core added 6 points and 14 rebounds.

Forest Area shot 57 percent from the free throw line and 78 percent from the floor.

Head coach Bobby Nix was especially pleased to see the team's free throw shooting improve, even if only slightly.

"It's an area that we've been struggling with this year,"Nix said. "It was good to see the guys show a little more concentration up there at the stripe. "We started off a little rusty because we had those two weeks off. We scrimmaged each other in practice, but that's not like game situations. "The last four years, we played in the Christmas tournament at Mesick. But, when the gender equity thing happened, they cancelled the Christmas tournament."

Snyder's play was encouraging.

"Like I told the kids, I'm going to give the kids who have been busting their butts in practice an opportunity to go out there and show me what they've got,"Nix said.

"Carl's been busting his butt in practice, so I figured I'd give him that opportunity ... and he performed."

Forest Area is at Onaway on Thursday night.