POWERS — North Central relied on its depth and a solid second half to defeat the Stephenson boys’ basketball team 71-50 Monday in the season opener.

Ten players scored for the Jets, led by Noah Gorzinski’s 17 points and Austin Poupore’s 15 points as North Central won its 84th straight game.

The Jets led 37-33 at halftime and pulled away in the second half while limiting the Eagles to four points in the fourth quarter.

“I’m proud of our kids playing four quarters,” North Central coach Adam Mercier said. “Stephenson played a great first half. They played an up-tempo game and shot the ball well in the first half.

“We took the initial punch and played much better defense in the second half. It was a good team win. We had a lot of contributions from all 12 players. I love seeing that for the first game.”

Ben Snyder grabbed nine rebounds and Hunter Riley recorded four steals for the Jets, who had 12 turnovers and made 30-of-67 shots from the field.

Ethan Brown scored 15 points and Joe Starzynski 10 for the Eagles.

North Central travels to Rapid River Thursday and Stephenson visits Munising Friday.

The summary:

Stephenson 16 17 13 4 — 50

North Central 21 16 22 12 — 71

Stephenson — Starzynski 10, Kuehnau 9, Thoune 8, Tickler 2, Brown 15, Monette 6. FT: 5-14; F: 11: 3-point field goals: Starzynski 2, Thoune 2, Kuehnau 1.

North Central — Schaff 4, Johnson 3, Riley 4, Gorzinski 17, Holle 6, Dombrowski 6, Poupore 15, Eichmeier 6, Snyder 8, Walters 2. FT: 4-10: F: 16; Fouled out: Dombrowski. 3-point field goals: Gorzinski 3, Schaff 1, Johnson 1, Dombrowski 1, Poupore 1.

Forest Park 58, Mid Pen 41

ST. NICHOLAS — Forest Park found the range from outside and the Mid Peninsula boys struggled to come up with an answer in the first half as they dropped a season-opening 58-41 basketball decision to the Trojans.

Mid Pen trailed 30-13 at halftime and 44-21 after the third quarter of the Skyline Central Conference contest.

“We played them toe-to-toe early, then they made some good shots over the top,” said Mid Pen coach Mark Branstrom. “We were right in their face, but they hit all five of their 3-point shots in the first half. They looked like they were in mid-season form. We also had open shots and they weren’t dropping. I think the boys were a little disheartened. We made some adjustments at halftime and had a different second half.”

Terry Brower led the Wolverines with 23 points. Max Nylund hit 18 and Jacob Frisanco added 10 for the Trojans.

“Terry did a great job,” said Branstrom. “He worked his rear end off. The kids have to start helping him out, but it will come. Both teams took very good care of the ball.”

Mid Pen held a 33-32 rebounding edge, hit 11-of-45 field goals and committed 12 turnovers. Forest Park was 24-of-63 from the floor and had 10 miscues.

The Wolverines, who also dropped the jayvee game, host Bark River-Harris Thursday. The Trojans host Big Bay de Noc Thursday.

The summary:

Forest Park 14 16 14 14 — 58

Mid Peninsula 6 7 8 20 — 41

Forest Park — Hendrickson 7, Franz 3, Max Nylund 18, Caron 2, Josh Logan 7, Jacob Frisanco 10, Jonah Logan 2, Peltoma 9. FT: 5-10; F: 19; Fouled out: Bortolini; 3-point field goals: Nylund 2, Hendrickson, Franz, Josh Logan.

Mid Peninsula — Brower 23, Z. Englund 8, Trudell 1, Nummilien 4, Carlson 4, Rajala 1. FT: 15-28; F: 13; Fouled out: Carlson.

Superior Central 54, Big Bay 33

GARDEN CORNERS — Superior Central relied on Joe Heinonen and solid rebounding to defeat the Big Bay de Noc boys’ basketball team 54-33 Monday in the season opener.

Heinonen scored 21 points and the Cougars had a big rebounding advantage.

“Between Heinonen and (Roubens) Fink, they cleaned up and controlled the boards,” Big Bay coach Devin Lawrence said. “Our rebounding was not good. They had a lot of second and third attempts that killed us.”

DJ Johns and Fink each scored eight points for the Cougars, who led 25-15 at halftime and 37-24 after three quarters.

Alex LaLonde scored nine points and Kellen Thill added eight points for Big Bay, which had 21 turnovers and shot 27 percent from the field.

Big Bay travels to Forest Park Thursday, while the Cougars visit Munising Monday.

Lawrence hopes the Black Bears will shake off the opening loss and move forward.

“It’s definitely a learning process,” he said. “We have a relatively new team. We are in a rebuilding year. It’s not what we do in the first half of the season. It’s what we do in the second half. As long as we get better, that is our goal.”

The summary:

Superior Central 9 16 12 17 — 54

Big Bay 7 8 9 9 — 33

Superior Central — Heinonen 21, Johns 8, Fink 8, Krysiak 7, Charlevois 7, Seaberg 3. FT: 4-12; F: 16; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Seaberg. Krysiak, Johns, Heinonen.

Big Bay — A. LaLonde 9, Thill 8, Chaperone 5, Sundling 4, McKeage 4, LeFevre 2, Reardon 1. FT: 4-11; F: 13; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Chaperone, Thill 2.