CRYSTAL FALLS—For Forest Park’s boys’ only game with a Class B team this season, Coach Gene Dziubinski had expected to have all hands on deck. But when Kingsford visited the Eddie Chambers Gym Jan. 12, his Trojans had to take them on without two of their best ball-handlers.

Sure enough, it was a flaw the Flivvers exploited, as they earned a 44-37 win in FP’s only game last week. The loss drops the Trojans’ record to 6-2 overall. They were still 3-0 in the Skyline Conference going into Monday’s showdown at Bark River.

“It’s just so disappointing this had to happen,” Dziubinski said. “We were on such a roll. But what are you going to do?

“Playing a Class B school short-handed is not an easy task."

Missing were guards Taylor Bartczak and Jeff Hegstrom, both victims of an untimely visit by the flu bug. Bartczak took part in the pregame shoot-around but just wasn’t up to playing. Also, noted the coach, Christian Valesano played despite feeling ill. “He gave me what he could.”

That hurt, especially since Kingsford played aggressively, harassing the Trojans all over the floor. Without Bartczak and Hegstrom, FP wasn’t able to deal with it that well, and the team’s play was off.

Normally, said the coach, he would always have at least one of the two on the court at all times. Instead, both missed the entire game.

The Trojans started well, breaking out to an early 9-2 lead, helped by baskets from Valesano, Jacob Divine and Dan Renner. It was their biggest lead of the night—Kingsford started pressing late in the first quarter and had the gap closed to 11-8 as the second quarter started.

The Flivvers briefly led in the second quarter on threes by Jeff Gregory and David Smart, but Tim Martin’s triple helped FP stay ahead 19-16 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Flivvers attacked with a 10-2 run, featuring a three-point play by Dylan Tengesdahl and another triple by Gregory. They outscored FP 15-8 in the third to lead 31-27 after three.

The Trojans tied it twice in the fourth quarter (on Martin’s baseline shot and Valesano’s fast break). Each time, though, Kingsford scored right away.

Martin’s free throws got FP within two, 39-37, in the final minute, but the Trojans turned over the ball on their next possession and had to start fouling. Bark River wrapped up the win with five straight free throws.

Dziubinski said Kingsford’s intense play simply wore down his squad late in the game. “Coach Olkkonen did a few things really well tonight that changed us up. I could not counter a lot of the stuff they were doing.

“The outcomes of games are determined by a lot of things,” the coach said, “but you hate to see it be determined by the flu.”

He praised the work of Brian Emo and Levi Oleksy, who stepped into the normal rotation and didn’t let the team down. Jake Divine also played well off the bench. “There was a lot of good effort.”

Martin was Forest Park’s high scorer with 10 points, followed by Josh Siler (9) and Valesano (8). Kingsford was led by Gregory (14) and Paul St. Louis (13)—both scored nine points in the second half.

The Trojans got Wednesday off before starting preparations for the Jan. 18 Bark River game. “I’m hoping everybody’s healthy for that one,” Dziubinski said. “We can not go there short-handed and be effective.”

After visiting undefeated Bark River-Harris on Jan. 18, the Trojans travel to West Iron on Jan. 21. They host North Dickinson on Jan. 26, their first game against the Nordics this season.

Flivvers 8 8 15 13 -- 44

Trojans 11 8 8 10 -- 37