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Jets cruise past Bears

Dawson Bilski

GARDEN CORNERS — The top-ranked North Central boys ran their winning streak to 64 games Thursday night as they cruised to a 92-52 basketball triumph over the Big Bay de Noc Black Bears.

Dawson Bilski matched a career-high 36 points for the Jets, who are now within a victory of the state record set by Chassell in 1958. The Jets can match the record with a victory over Mid Peninsula at home Tuesday night.

Bilski scored 26 points in the first half of the Skyline Central Conference outing, helping the Jets (9-0, 5-0) build a 42-30 advantage.

“Dawson played aggressive,” said Jets’ coach Adam Mercier. “We were making the extra pass, leading to open shots for him. This was a bounce-back game for us. We didn’t play great Monday (in a 75-42 triumph at Rapid River). We played aggressive and kept sharing the basketball.”

Jason Whitens added 22 points and Marcus Krachinski had 14.

“Big Bay played a great first half,” said Mercier. “They took a lot of shots and they went in. In the second half, we locked down on defense. We played right and got separation in the third quarter.”

Coach Bob Pederson said “they’re deep and athletic. They put a lot of pressure on us and made it difficult to run our offense. It was hard to get anything set up. We played a zone (defense) tonight. We just didn’t have the personnel to match up with them man-to-man.

“I thought we played one of our better first halves this season. They really ramped up their defense in the second half. I think they scored about nine points in a minute at one point in the third quarter.”

Robbie Ray led Big Bay (0-11 overall, 0-8 league) with a career-best 17 points. Tyler Johnson hit 14.

“Our goal is to keep getting better every game, and I think we improved over the past 4-5 games,” said Pederson.

North Central      23   19  32  18   —   92

Big Bay de Noc   15   15   14   8   —   52

North Central — Schaff 3, Krachinski 12, Polfus 3, Dombrowski 4, Bilski 36, Kleiman 5, Poupore 3, Whitens 22, Kirschner 2, Snyder 2. FT: 13-17; F: 6; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals; Bilski 4, Krachinski 2, Schaff, Polfus, Kleiman, Poupore, Whitens.

Big Bay de Noc — T. Johnson 14, Chandler 9, E. Johnson 6, Ray 17, Reardon 2, Knudsen 4. FT: 3-3; F: 14; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Ray 4, Chandler.

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