POWERS — The UPSSA Division 4 second-ranked North Central Jets got off to a hot start then battled against an improving North Dickinson team to post a 57-36 Skyline Central Conference boys varsity basketball win in Powers.

The Jets (12-2) took an 11-2 lead early and led 19-5 after one quarter.

“North Central is explosive, but we kind of dug in, and as the game went along we gained confidence and made some shots,” North Dickinson coach Chris Mattson said.

North Dickinson, which lost to the Jets 67-23 in the first encounter in early January, kept fighting and trailed by 15 midway through the fourth quarter.

“There were a lot of positives,” Mattson said. “We played a very clean game offensively. We only turned the ball over 12 times. We’re starting to see our improvement quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. Overall, this was probably the best we’ve played this year in terms of an entire game.”

Sophomore Antonio Inglese scored a game-high 17 points for the Nordics (1-14), including five 3-pointers. Collin LaFave added nine points and sank North Dickinson’s other two triples.

“He had a nice game,” Mattson said of LaFave. “And Steven Holmes had most of our assists. He didn’t score, but he did all the little things.”

The Jets received balanced scoring once again with junior Connor Florenski leading the charge with 16 points. Bradey Anderson chipped in with 12 and Luke Gorzinski scored 10.

Knights pull away from FP

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Division 4 fifth-ranked Norway Knights outscored host Forest Park by 18 points over the second and third quarters and went on to post a 47-27 victory in a Skyline Central Conference varsity contest on Tuesday evening at Eddie Chambers Gymnasium in Crystal Falls.

“We started off a little slow but got much better once we settled in,” Norway coach Jeff Gallino said. “Blake Dishaw had a nice defensive game for us tonight.”

Dishaw, a 6-foot-5-inch junior, also chipped in offensively with six points for the Knights, who improved to 11-4 on the season.

Norway senior guard Nolan Amundson led all scorers with 12 points. Alex Ortman and Michael Peterson added nine points each.

Kevin Giuliani and Sam McKissack paced the Trojans (6-9) with six points each.

Badgers fall off in second half

ELCHO, Wis. — The Niagara Badgers stayed within 10 points of Elcho in a high-scoring first half, but were unable to keep up in their 81-50 defeat in a non-conference boys varsity basketball game at Elcho.

The Badgers (6-14) trailed 42-32 at halftime as junior Nicholas Krueger sank five 3-pointers for 15 of his team-best 19 points. Freshman Tommy Martin recorded seven of his 11 points in the opening 18 minutes in support.

Both teams were effective from beyond the 3-point arc, with the Badgers hitting eight and the Hornets sinking six. But Niagara mustered only 18 points in the second half as the Hornets accumulated 39 points to win going away.