CRYSTAL FALLS—Solid defensive play made for an easy start to 2010 for Forest Park’s boys basketball team last week.

The Trojans walloped Watersmeet 71-22 on Jan. 4 and followed that with a 59-44 win over Florence Jan. 7—their second win over the Bobcats in three games.

The wins boost FP’s season record to 6-1 overall. The Trojans remain 3-0 in the Skyline Conference and won’t play another Skyline game until next week.

Against the Bobcats, a 14-0 breakout in the second quarter opened up a big lead, and the Trojans never let the lead fall to single digits after halftime.

In fact, Forest Park led from start to finish, but Coach Gene Dziubinski decided a change was needed with a 9-5 lead midway through the first quarter. He told his team to switch from a zone defense to a man-to-man.

Dziubinski said he feels his team can get “lackadaisical” when playing zone. “That’s the way we looked those first three minutes. I said, the only way we’re going to get them out of that slow-motion mode is to get moving.”

They got moving, all right. Tim Martin, Christian Valesano and Jeff Hegstrom all connected on threes. Florence kept pace, helped by Jimmy Richard, who scored eight points (two threes) in the first quarter. FP led 20-16 after one.

Florence was still within two early in the second quarter when Dziubinski called time and told his team to pick up the tempo and push the ball up the floor. “You can’t play to their level.”

The game quickly got out of hard. Martin led the way, shooting a three and a two—and then firing another three and another two. His 10 consecutive points put the Trojans ahead 30-21.

Then the Trojans’ guards, Taylor Bartczak and Hegstrom, started stealing the ball and going in for layups. The lead got to 37-21, and the Trojans led 37-27 at halftime.

The team later went back to its 1-3-1, but this time Forest Park kept up its defensive aggressiveness and led by as much as 18 points in the second half. As time went on, Dziubinski rotated players in and out to see what they can do. “I’ve got to find some kids who can come in and help.”

In the end, Forest Park held Florence below 50 points, one of Dziubinski’s goals. He wasn’t so happy about free throws: FP made just 7 of 17 free throws, but Florence only hit 6 of 16.

“We’re a team that’s going to be growing,” the coach said, “and as we grow, we want to see improvement.” The zone defense is one key. “If we can get that 1-3 healthy, like we had it at tournament time last year, that will be a big help.”

Martin led the Trojans with 17 points (three treys), Valesano followed with 13, Dan Renner had 11 and Bartczak scored 10. Renner pulled down 10 rebounds and also had three steals. Bartczak was credited with nine assists, and Martin had five.

For Florence, Richard led with 19 points (15 in the first half), and Kurt Neuens scored 11.

At Watersmeet, the Trojans led by two, 11-9, after the first quarter but had turned over the ball eight times. Again, time for a change. “In the second quarter, I said, Let’s go get ‘em.”

Result: FP outscored the Nimrods 22-2 in the second quarter and 26-8 in the third. FP’s reserves took over in the final quarter.

Valesano led the Trojans with 18 points, and Bartczak added 17. Four teammates scored from six to eight points.

According to their coach, the Trojans haven’t really established themselves with the U.P. sports media so far. Now is when they get their chance. On Jan. 12, the Trojans host Class B Kingsford. Then they get ready to visit unbeaten Bark River-Harris on Jan. 18 and Class C West Iron on Jan. 21.

It’s a challenging part of the schedule. “The next three games are going to tell us what our overall strength is.”

Trojans 11 22 26 12 -- 71
Nimrods 9 2 8 3 -- 22

Bobcats 16 11 10 7 -- 44
Trojans 20 17 16 6 -- 59