It took three overtime sessions for a winner to be determined Friday night, but Irondale used comebacks and free-throw accuracy to propel itself to a 93-90 win over North Suburban rival St. Louis Park.

Irondale trailed 39-25 after the first half but put up 43 points in the second to force overtime. Senior forward Bryan Sprang led the Knights with 34 points, 29 of which came from the second half on. He was 6-for-9 shooting threes, 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Sprang was not the leading scorer for the game, however. That honor belonged to St. Louis Park senior guard Joseph Zangel who scored 35 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, despite the Orioles not prevailing in the end.

The Knights battled back all game long -- from a 14-point deficit at the half, to being down 17 with 16 minutes to play in regulation and then down 7 points mid-way through the first overtime. Irondale head coach Jon DeMars credited steals and making free throws for his team’s comebacks.

“I told them, ‘good job, keep working,’” DeMars said. “You have to be positive. The players fought back really hard in the second half.”

The result was a win, and a tired team and coach. DeMars said the game was fun because he got the chance to really coach and try a lot of different things.

“What it really comes down to is players stepping up and making plays on both ends of the court,” DeMars said. “I was proud that the guys listened to the adjustments we made at halftime and in the timeouts.”

Irondale got help from multiple players in order to seal the victory. Junior Mark Stasson scored 12, with four rebounds and six assists. Junior Kevin Poster tallied five assists and came up big at the free throw line, going 6-for-6 down the stretch. Senior Aaron Martin had six points, six rebounds, four assists and blocked seven shots. Sophomore Jack Martinek came off the bench for 11 points.

“To win a game like that, it takes a total team effort,” DeMars said. “You spend a lot of energy just to get back in the game. The question we answered was, did we have enough energy to finish the game once we tied it? We did.”