North Central’s Luke Gorzinski (11) vies for a rebound with Kingsford’s Michael Meneguzzo (2) during the non-conference game between the two highly-ranked teams. Gorzinski scored 10 points for the Jets, while Meneguzzo recorded six for the Flivvers, who won the matchup 63-48. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

KINGSFORD — Despite the intrigue of a matchup between the UPPSA Division 4 second-ranked North Central Jets and the Division 1-3 fourth-ranked Kingsford Flivvers, there really was nothing tangible on the line in Tuesday night’s boys varsity basketball game at Kingsford High School.

The game, won by Kingsford 63-48, was a contest added earlier in the season because of cancellations, and both Jets coach Mike Malone and Flivvers coach Dan Olkkonen looked at the game as preparation for their respective tournaments as much as anything.

Still, successful teams like North Central and Kingsford are filled with competitive athletes and so the coaches wanted to expose them to more as they prepare for possible tournament runs.

“We look at the end of the year when we played Menominee, two days later we played Marquette, two days later played Ewen (Trout Creek) and three days later we play North Central, you want to talk about getting us ready for the tournament,” Kingsford coach Dan Olkkonen said. “The more you throw at your kids — different teams, different scenarios — you want them to have the experience to go in and play against anybody down the stretch.”

North Central coach Mike Malone agreed.

Kingsford freshman guard Gavin Grondin (5) cuts free for a layup as North Central’s Bradey Anderson (4) trails the play. Grondin had a big night, scoring 17 points to help his team win their 13th game of the season, a 63-48 decision over North Central. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

“I would love to play this team four times a year,” he began. “That’s a really good basketball team, JV and varsity both. They’re well-coached, they execute offensively and they do all the little things pretty well.

“For us it’s just a consolation game,” Malone continued. “It’s a game to prepare our minds and get us ready for districts.”

Except for a one-minute stretch at the end of the opening quarter when Kingsford increased its three-point lead to 10 and a three-minute span at the start of the fourth quarter when the Flivvers extended their eight-point advantage to 15, the game was evenly played.

Leading 13-10 with just under two minutes to play in the opening period, Kingsford (13-6) got a 3-point hoop from Nic Nora, a bucket in transition from Brody Kopp and a layup off a backdoor cut by Gavin Grondin to extend to a 20-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

Kingsford ran its halfcourt offense brilliantly in the game, using screen-rolls, penetrations into the lane and backdoor cuts.

“It’s a really cool offense because you’re always getting that screen-roll, you always get a guy to come off and you’ve got backdoor penetration,” Olkkonen said. “With Nic, Grondin and (Cole) Myllyla, any time they can go baseline on you. And we shared the ball.”

The Jets (16-3) tried to hedge the ballscreen hard and then recover, but they got caught numerous times by the Kingsford guards’ ability to read the court and attack.

“We’ve been looking at the show-recover defense pretty much for the last couple of weeks, trying to develop the help and helping the helper on the two rotations, making sure we don’t give up any layups and getting them to ‘pitch the skip’ but it’s tough against a team that goes backdoor so well,” Malone explained.

“They come off of that screen and (Nora’s) hesitation dribble and his ability to go downhill with either hand and then you get guards cutting on the backside and the bigs sitting on the opposite block, it’s a tough cover. It’s a really tough cover.”

The Jets have plenty of offensive talent as well. Junior Luke Gorzinski ran the point much of the time, often driving into the lane and posting up. He scored six quick points in the second quarter, and along with two buckets from Collin Cordy, four free throws from Connor Florenski and a two free throws from Bradey Anderson, North Central stayed within 35-26 at the halftime break.

The third quarter was basically a wash, with the Flivvers holding a 46-38 edge heading into the fourth.

But the Jets turned the ball over immediately once play resumed, resulting in Flivver senior Michael Meneguzzo’s steal and layup just four seconds into the quarter. Three more turnovers led directly to Kingsford taking a 55-40 edge with 6:13 to play.

From there, Kingsford had things in hand and went on to the victory.

Nora led all scorers with 21 points, while Grondin, who may have played his best game of his young varsity career, added 17 for the Flivvers.

Florenski topped the Jets with 12 points, followed by 11 from Anderson and 10 from Gorzinski.

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 244, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.