Nike Newsome led the Ironmen in scoring with 10 points, his final three points gave Community the lead and the win. Photo Courtesty of: Mr. Jeff Christopherson

The Ironmen came away with a 31-29 win over defending 4A State Champions, the Moline Maroons, battling back from a nine-point first-half deficit.

Community (25-5) and Moline (23-6) posted season-low scores in what was, at times, a slow to no-tempo game.

The Ironmen trailed 8-5 at the end of the first quarter following Arthur Abbey’s second three-pointer of the period.

The Maroons’ 5-foot-7 freshman gave Moline the lead on a possession that saw 19 passes from the Maroons and took over 45 seconds off the clock, demonstrating the Maroons’ ability to play with patience until they found their shot.

Moline extended the lead in the second with junior Marcus McQueen hitting two threes of his own, helping put the Maroons up 16-7 with 5:19 to play in the half.

Community would score five unanswered points to end the half, trailing 16-12.

Braylon Roman cut the Maroons’ lead to two, a strong drive to the rim set up by a Jaheem Webber block and Zach Cleveland’s hustle to keep the ball in play for the Ironmen.

McQueen broke the Maroons’ scoring drought, draining his third three to put Moline’s advantage at 19-14.

Cleveland responded with a three of his own to trim the lead to 19-17.

Connor Smith would give the Iron their first lead of the contest, draining a shot from beyond the arc to put Community up 20-19.

By the end of the third quarter, the Ironmen led 24-20, their largest advantage of the game.

The advantage didn’t last long as McQueen opened the fourth with another three for Moline, pulling the Maroons back within one.

Jaheem Webber would head to the line on the Iron’s next possession, hitting his first free throw to put the Ironmen up 25-23.

But the big man would miss the second shot from the charity stripe, and on the ensuing fight for the rebound, Cleveland would suffer a leg injury that would end his night and the Maroons would take possession.

And take the lead, with McQueen, connecting from range again to regain the lead 26-25 with 7:20 to play.

McQueen would finish the night with 15 points for the Maroons, all coming from the perimeter.

The ensuing minutes would see Moline and Community trade leads back and forth, with the Maroons up 29-28 with just under four minutes to play in the game.

Nike Newsome would put the Ironmen back on top 30-29 off an assist from Webber with 3:07 remaining.

The clock read 1:16 when the Iron scored next. Forced to foul, the Maroons sent Newsome to the line to stop the clock.

The Bloomington transfer missed his first shot but connected on the second to extend the Ironmen lead to 31-29.

On the other end of the court, Abbey tried to put the Maroons back on top, but his three-point attempt hit the front iron and was hauled in by Smith for Community.

Smith had the opportunity to put the contest away for the Ironmen at the free-throw line with 19 seconds left to play. A 67 percent free throw shooter on the season, Smith could not take advantage of the whistle, missing both shots and giving Moline one final possession down two.

Moline lived by the three, scoring most of their points from long range, and would fall by it, too.

The Maroons’ game-winning attempt clanged off the side of the backboard as time expired.

Community’s guards led the offensive charge while the Iron’s big men struggled to get things going inside. Newsome tallied a team-high 10 points, with Smith contributing seven and Braylon Roman adding six.

The Ironmen are back in action Friday at 7 p.m. when they head to Normal West looking to improve to a perfect 10-0 in Big 12 Conference play.