FELCH — Speed and athleticism. When one team has more of those things than the other, the outcome usually goes in the favor of the team that does.

On Wednesday night, those factors had a great deal to do with the outcome as North Central rolled past North Dickinson 64-33 in MHSAA Division 4 District 99 action at the Carl F. Lemin Jr. Gymnasium.

The Jets (16-6) came out in a press, which gave the Nordics a hard time getting settled in their offense. It also caused North Dickinson to struggle getting the ball up the floor at times, and the Jets created a handful of Nordic turnovers, turning most of those turnovers into points.

North Central opened the first five minutes of the game on a 9-0 run and already led by double figures at the end of the first quarter.

“We came out and started with a lot of transition points from putting pressure on them,” said Jets head coach Michael Malone. “They settled in and started to break our press a little, and they got some second looks at the basket in the second period, which is something we’ll work on.”

The Nordics also had trouble later in the game when North Central began to use its press again.

“It definitely gave them fits,” Malone said. “The transition game is fit for us because we have the players to do it.”

Jets’ freshman point guard Luke Gorzinski, who led all scorers with 13 points, uses speed and quick feet off of dribble drives to distribute the ball in transition and in the half-court offense. He sees the floor very well, and he also plays very good defense.

Noah Gorzinski added 10 points for the Jets, and senior Cole Timblin chipped in eight.

The second quarter belonged to the Nordics, as they began the first half of it with a 9-3 scoring run.

“We woke up defensively in the second quarter and we began to score some points,” said Nordics head coach Chris Mattson. “We outplayed them in the second quarter and I am happy about that.”

As the third quarter began, both teams came out of the locker room a bit sluggish, with nearly three minutes ticking off the clock before a point was scored by either team. Once the Jets scored the first points of the half, they started to use a half-court press again, and it was as effective as it was earlier in the game.

North Central’s athleticism was simply too much for the Nordics in the remainder of the third quarter and through most of the fourth quarter, until both coaches began to substitute their bench players into the game with the outcome clearly determined.

The Nordics end their season at 4-17, with Justin Slagle leading them in scoring on the night with 11 points.

North Central will return home to host the district final Friday night, when its long-time arch-rival Carney-Nadeau makes the short trip to Powers.

Tip-off from North Central High School is at 7 p.m. EDT.

North Central 20 10 16 18 — 64

North Dickinson 7 13 10 3 — 33

North Central — I. Gorzinski 7, Timblin 8, N. Gorzinski 10, Riley 3, L. Gorzinski 13, Eichmeier 7, Florenski 6, Sampson 4, Naser 4, Anderson 2. FT: 5-8. F: 17. Fouled Out: None. 3-point FG: N. Gorzinski 2, Riley 1, L. Gorzinski 3, Eichmeier 1.

North Dickinson — Donaldson 8, Schultz 5, Mattson 5, Graham 4, Slagle 11. FT: 8-15. F: 9. Fouled Out: None. 3-point FG: Mattson.