Theresa Proudfit/The Daily News Photo NIAGARA’S DAWSON LINCOLN works through traffic during Friday’s boys basketball contest.

NIAGARA, Wis. — Niagara came into the fifth game of the season Friday night still in search of its first win, and they got it with a convincing 59-43 triumph over Three Lakes in non-conference action.

Badgers first year coach Steve Derwinski was quite pleased with his team in winning their first game of the season, and the first of his varsity coaching career.

“I am very happy for the kids, they played tremendously hard. That’s what I have asked of them thus far, and they did that tonight,” said Derwinski.

Right from the onset, the Badgers ran their half-court offensive sets well — passing the ball around to get good looks.

“We kept our turnovers to a minimum tonight, which was something I’ve been stressing and I am very happy for that as well,” Derwinski said.

The tempo of the game was fairly fast, with both teams getting into to their offensive sets off of transition. The Badgers used several dribble drives, which kept Three Lakes on their heels defensively. Three Lakes allowed the Badgers to mostly dominate the glass, especially on the defensive end.

The Badgers were led in scoring by Tristan DeJardin who had a game-high 17 points, including three 3-point field goals. Dawson Lincoln chipped in 11 points, with Ty Colenso adding 10 points.

“The kids come to practice every day and do what I ask of them, and our team morale is still good. Tonight is something to build off of,” said Derwinski. “Our first three games of the season were hard ones to start off with, in Florence, Crivitz and at Coleman. So tonight was a great win.”

The Blue Jays, now 2-6 on the season, couldn’t get into an offensive rhythm at all throughout the game. The Badgers forced Three Lakes to shoot mainly from the perimeter. They were led by Sam Eppler with 13 points.

“We had a lot of positives from this game, so I am hoping that we can build off of it going forward,” Derwinski said.

Niagara (1-4), off for the rest of the holiday break, will make the short trip to Pembine to take on the 3-1 Goodman-Pembine Patriots in a non-conference tilt on Jan. 3.

In the JV contest, Three Lakes slipped past Niagara 43-31. Logan Weber led the way for Niagara with 11 points.

Three Lakes 17 26 — 43

Niagara 31 28 — 59

THREE LAKES: Scimecca 1, Maney 4, Spears 4, Bolanowski 3, Erickson 9, Eppler 13. FT: 12-22. F: 14. 3-point FG: Maney, Bolanowski, Erickson. Fouled Out: None

NIAGARA: Swanson 2, Lincoln 11, DeJardin 17, Colenso 10, Weber 4, Carlson 5. Bath 6, Dunlap 4. FT: 9-13. F: 18. 3-point FG: DeJardin (3), Carlson. Fouled Out: None