(Todd Rose/ Escanaba Daily Press) Tommy Showers (25) of Forest Park shoots over Rapid River’s Parker Dausey (40) Thursday night in Rapid River.

RAPID RIVER — The Rapid River Rockets boys basketball team (7-8) put on an offensive showcase to defeat the Forest Park Trojans (4-8) 56-22 Thursday night in Rapid River.

Rockets coach Richard Poma was surprised with the direction the game took.

“I did not expect this to go the way they did,” he said. “(The Trojans) are long and athletic. They’re a better team than they showed tonight.”

Rease Dawley (14), Mason Kudlick (11) and Max Lenaker (10) all hit double digits scoring for the Rockets.

Trojans coach Kurt Lehmann looked to a false sense of security from a successful JV game –which the Trojans won — as a possible reason behind the outcome.

“Obviously, they hit a lot of shots and stuff, but we didn’t help our cause at all,” Lehmann said. “I think (our team) saw the JV game, saw how good our JV played, and we thought it was just going to be easy in the varsity game.”

Heading into districts, the Trojans take on their first-round opponent in a preview of the district opener tonight as they take on the North Dickinson Nordics in Felch.

“I’m just glad we get to play (again) before districts,” said Lehmann. “That’s a big thing. We’ll see how they respond and go from there.”

For the Rockets, it was the last regular-season game of the season. They now take a week-long break before taking on the Mid Peninsula Wolverines at Superior Central in Eben next Thursday in the district tournament.

Forest Park 2 6 7 9 — 22

Rapid River 11 17 16 12 — 56

Forest Park — Stacy 5, Emmers 3, Rintala 3, Alder 3, Johnson 2, McKissack 2, Scarlassara 2, Quevedo 2; F: 11; FT: 4-8; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Rintala.

Rapid River — Dawley 14, Kudlick 11, Max Lenaker 10, Snay 6, McCarty 6, Dausey 4, Ben Lenaker 3, Platt 2; F: 13; FT: 5-9; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Kudlick 3, Dawley 2, Ben Lenaker, Max Lenaker.