Todd Rose | Daily Press North Central’s Carter Tietz (1) shoots a layup Carney-Nadeau’s Peyton Imhoff (15) and Sam Salo (5) look on Tuesday in Carney.

CARNEY — The North Central Jets boys basketball team (11-1) soared past the Carney-Nadeau Wolves (3-7) Tuesday night in Carney, defeating their rivals 78-36.

Heading into tipoff, North Central had two main goals in mind for the game.

“We came in, and we wrote two things one the board, don’t get outworked and don’t get out-rebounded,” said Jets coach Mike Malone. “I think we accomplished both of those goals tonight, so I was really happy with that.”

The Jets struck quickly — eight seconds in to be exact — as Connor Florenski put one in for two to put the Jets on the board. They followed it up about 40 seconds later as Luke Gorzinski would do the same.

Ashton Wandahsega was the first Wolves player to score to make it 4-2 about two minutes into the game.

From there, North Central went on several small runs to go up 26-8 by the end of the first quarter and did not look back the rest of the game.

Despite being a rivalry game, the sportsmanship displayed between the teams reflected a high level of respect.

“A healthy rivalry is fantastic. An ugly rivalry is not so good. That’s bad for everyone in both communities,” commented Malone. “A healthy rivalry is good stuff. It’s good, fun, competition.”

As they have several times this year, the Jets excelled in getting the ball to open players and, as Malone would say, “sharing the sugar” when it comes to scoring.

Connor Florenski led the Jets with 16 points, while Luke Gorzinski (13) and Bryson Mercier (12) both hit double digits as well. Carter Tietz and Collin Cordy each had nine while Bradey Anderson had eight, Jesse Sampson seven and Trenton Naser 4.

Wolves coach Mike Polfus noted a lack of energy as one of the things that played a factor in the outcome of the game.

“First off, North Central is a great team,” he said. “I thought our energy was down. I didn’t think we played as hard as we could at all times, and I thought we could pick it up a little bit. We did some good things, but I didn’t think we played out best. But, (North Central) is a very good team. They’re a good size. They shoot the ball well and they hit some shots and got up on us early. With a team like that, you’ve got to keep it close or at least make them work.”

The Wolves were led in scoring by freshman Sam Salo who had a career-high 11 points on the night.

Isiah Tillmon (7), Jerry Lee LaFord (6), Peyton Imhoff (5), Ashton Wandahsega (4) and Logan Johnson (3) also contributed points for Carney.

Polfus added that the Wolves’ goal for the game wasn’t necessarily to win but find out how they compared to rivals at this point of the season.

“We knew that this game was going to be more of a gauge than trying to win,” he said. “We wanted to gauge where we are at and see what we have to work on.”

Both teams are back in action Friday as Carney heads to St. Nicholas to face the Mid Peninsula Wolverines as the Jets, who won the JV game 59-35, host the Forest Park Trojans in Powers.

North Central 26 12 25 15 — 78

Carney-Nadeau 8 12 7 9 — 36

North Central — Florenski 16, Gorzinski 13, Mercier 12, Tietz 9, Cordy 9, Anderson 8, Sampson 7, Naser 4; FT: 5-11; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Mercier 2, Anderson 2, Florenski, Tietz, Sampson.

Carney-Nadeau — Salo 11, I. Tillmon 7, LaFord 6, Imhoff 5, Wandahsega 4, Johnson 3; FT: 3-7; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Salo 2, Imhoff, I. Tillmon, Johnson.