Kingsford senior Morgan Sleik (12) elevates for a two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter against Negaunee at Flivver Gym on Tuesday. (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD — Normally it takes a bit of time for high school basketball teams to find their footing at the start of the regular season. Especially, when there’s a coaching change.

However, that was not the case for the Kingsford boys varsity basketball team as it kicked off its 2024-25 campaign with a 55-26 win over Negaunee on Tuesday at Flivver Gym.

“It feels great,” senior Morgan Sleik said. “The environment, crowd and band was a lot of fun.”

Winning isn’t a new feeling for the Flivvers. The win was significant for new head coach Ben Olson, who took over for former head coach Dan Olkkonen.

“It’s huge,” Olson said. “But, it’s not about me. It’s about our kids. We’ve had a great two weeks of practice and I think it showed out here tonight.”

Despite opening the game with an impressive display from 3-point land, Kingsford is looking to emphasize defense under a new coach. The Flivvers were able to show their potential against the Miners, holding them to seven first-half points on Tuesday.

“We didn’t shoot, I think, as well as we’re capable of,” Olson said. “But our defense, holding a varsity team to seven points in a half, that’s a big deal. I told our kids, ‘When shots don’t go in, we’ve got to hang our hats on our defense. And we did that tonight.”

“We had a good game plan,” Olson continued. “We were switching guard-on-guard and hard hedging with post-on-guard.

“We’ve been working on it for about four days now, and I thought they executed. (My guys’) execution was nearly flawless on the defensive end. We had a few break downs. But, you’re going to have that in the course of a 32-minute game. Overall, I thought we were pretty flawless on the defensive end.”

Owen Olkkonen opened the scoring for Kingsford in the first quarter with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Senior Gavin Grondin added a turnaround midrange jumper to put the Flivvers ahead 5-0.

Negaunee responded with a 3-pointer of its own, but it couldn’t keep pace with Kingsford.

After pulling ahead by 11-points, Grondin stole the ball and flushed a one-handed jam. On the Miners’ next possession, Sleik stole the ball and powered in a two-handed slam. Suddenly, the Flivvers’ lead was 20-5 as the first quarter ended.

“(Sleik’s) huge for us,” Olson said. “He’s a three-year starter for us. (He’s) a big presence in there and he’s going to go for as long as he can. He ran cross country in the fall, so he’s in shape. As long as he stays out of foul trouble, he’s going to give us huge, huge production in there.

“I think he could have attacked the basket a little bit better. But again, him getting out on the break, he’s such a force. You’ve got to worry about him running the floor.”

Olkkonen drained another 3-pointer to open the second frame while Grondin added two points and Sleik scored another, pushing the lead to 26-5.

A layup from Negaunee sophomore Kyle Waterman, stopped the Flivvers’ run. However, that was the Miners’ last basket in the first half. A Grondin and-1 layup pushed the Kingsford lead to 31 points at halftime.

Negaunee found its footing in the third quarter, scoring 10 points. However, the Flivvers took a 45-17 advantage into the final frame.

With the Miners’ trying to turn the momentum in their favor, Sleik brought the house down with a thunderous two-handed dunk.

“It was kind of scary,” Sleik said. “Especially, because there was a guy on my back side and I was scared I was going to get undercut. But, it was crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped like that.”

Sleik wasn’t the only one surprised by the dunk.

“In practice, he’s been showing a little bit of it,” Grondin said. “But not like that.”

From there, Olson started working his younger players into the game. The Flivvers didn’t miss a beat as they locked up the 55-26 win.

“That was huge,” Olson said. “We’ve got some sophomores playing on the JV team that I think could play varsity basketball. So it was nice getting them their first taste of varsity experience. And who knows, moving along, they may pick up more minutes for us.

“Everybody got to play. You get a big win at home for opening night, you couldn’t ask for a better script.”

Grondin led all scorers in the game with 19 points. Sleik notched 12 points while Olkkonen added 11 points.

“That’s really big this year, especially because I’m probably going to be the main focus,” Grondin said. “If we can get Owen (Olkkonen) knocking down threes, Jack (Kriegl) and (Gavin Trevillian) scoring, (Morgan Sleik) putting in some buckets, we’re going to be really hard to stop.”

Honoring Grondin

Prior to the game, Kingsford honored Grondin for reaching the 1,000-point mark during its 2023-24 postseason run. He reached the mark with a 39-point performance on the road against Flint-Powers Catholic.

“It means a lot,” Grondin said. “Everybody in the crowd has been supporting me since I was little. I’ve been a part of this program for a while now and it means a lot that they did something for me here.”

The Flivvers are back in action on Friday, Dec. 6, as they head to Escanaba.

MUSTANGS 50, KNIGHTS 34

NORWAY — The Norway boys varsity basketball team kicked off the home portion of its 2024-25 schedule on Tuesday against Munising at Norway High School.

The Knights battled until the end against the Mustangs, but it wasn’t enough to push them over the top as Munising took home a 50-34 win.

Munising’s Trevor Nolan led all scorers with 24 points.

“Trevor Nolan was hot out of the gate,” Norway head coach Jeff Gallino said. “He made some deep shots early. Munising is a solid team and we didn’t have many answers tonight. We are going to continue to get better both offensively and defensively.”

Mason Trudeau led the Knights with 19 points.

Norway also received contributions from A.J. Gallino (3 points), Bryce Adams (6 points), Cole Baij (2 points), Anthony Pineda (2 points) and Elliott Kraemer (2 points).

The Knights are back at home on Monday against North Dickinson.