Escanaba senior Lennox Peacock attempts a shot against Kingsford on Monday at Escanaba High School. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press photo)

ESCANABA — A fast start by the Escanaba Eskymos was short-lived as they fell 47-29 to Kingsford here Monday in a Great Northern Conference boys basketball game.

The Eskymos jumped out to an early 6-2 lead on three buckets by senior Lennox Peacock, who finished with nine on the night.

The Flivvers responded as senior Owen Olkkonen had back-to-back layups and senior Jack Kriegl knocked down a mid-range jumper to put the Flivvers up 8-6.

Escanaba senior Braden Cooper drove to the basket for a layup to tie the game at eight. Junior Hayven Sandoval-Nolde had a layup and a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Eskymos up 13-8 after one quarter of play.

“I feel like we came out hot tonight,” Eskymos coach Jake Berlinski said. “We did a very good job on the defensive side of the ball and just couldn’t hit a shot in the second half.”

The Flivvers outscored the Eskymos 14-4 in the second quarter as Olkkonen drove to the basket for a layup and junior Gaige Sorenson hit a corner three to tie the game at 13 then drove to the basket for a layup to put the Flivvers up 15-13.

“We were playing a little too selfish the last couple of games,” Sorenson said. “Tonight we worked more as a team and we were able to pull away in the second half.”

In the third quarter, the Flivvers outscored the Eskymos 13-4 with all four Esky points coming from the free throw line as they failed to make a field goal in the quarter.

“We just went cold in the second half, Berlinski said. “We had some good looks and could not get anything to go down.”

The Flivvers had two in double figures as Olkkonen and Sorenson each finished with 11, Alex Erickson had eight and Jett Buckley added seven.

“We did a good job of playing team basketball tonight,” Flivvers coach Ben Olsen said. “I feel like we did a great job defensively. We gave up 13 points in the first quarter and held them to 16 points total in the final three quarters. I thought our post players (Erickson, Matt Sundquist, and Isaac Lebouef) were the difference in the third quarter that helped us extend our lead. We went with two bigs which I haven’t done since being at Kingsford.”

The Eskymos won the turnover battle as they forced 14 turnovers and committed 11.

Kingsford 8 14 13 12 — 47

Escanaba 13 4 4 8 — 29

Kingsford — Olkkonen 11, Buckley 7, Kriegl 5, Lebouef 5 Sorenson 11 Erickson 8. FT: 5-7; F: 8; Fouled Out: None; 3-pointers: Sorenson, Buckley.

Escanaba — Sandoval-Nolde 7, Hejmej 4, Asgaard 4, Peacock 9, Cooper 5. FT: 4-8; F: 15; Fouled Out: None; 3-pointers: Sandoval-Nolde.