CRIVITZ, Wis. — Heading into Crivitz, Wis. on Thursday, without senior Morgan Sleik, the Kingsford boys varsity basketball team was looking for someone to step up alongside Gavin Grondin.

The Flivvers (4-0) found that person in Jett Buckley, who poured in 17 points and helped propel them to a 71-42 win over Crivitz (4-2).

“We played down a few bodies tonight with kids gone for certain reasons and it took us a little bit to find our footing,” Kingsford first-year head coach Ben Olsen said. “(In the) first half we got up seven to 10 points and just kind of rode the half out. We got into some early foul trouble and had to kind of adjust to the way we were guarding to protect some guys. … Jett Buckley had a huge 17 points to help us in the absence of some of our other main contributors.”

Owen Olkkonen connected on two 3-pointers in the first half, Buckley added eight points and Grondin tallied six as the Flivvers took a 30-21 lead into the halftime break.

From there, Grondin and Buckley began to overwhelm the Wolverines in the second half.

Buckley connected on three 3-pointers while Grondin scored 20 points in the frame and Kingsford rolled to the non-conference win.

“After weathering the foul storm we were able to ramp up the pressure again and were finally able to extend the lead,” coach Olsen said. “Gavin Grondin also made some big shots in the stretch. Alex Erickson and Matt Sundquist also gave us huge minutes guarding Crivitz’ 6-foot-6 post player.”

Although coach Olsen wants to see his team make better defensive decisions to avoid foul trouble, he was proud of his team after the dominant win.

“We had some issues fouling and that is something we need to continue to work on but overall was a solid performance by some guys,” coach Olsen said. “(The) next man up mentality was huge and some guys might have earned some more minutes moving forward.”

Grondin led all scorers in the contest with 26 points. He connected on three 3-pointers and went three for six from the free throw line.

Kingsford also received contributions from Olkkonen (6 points), Sid Olsen (2 points), Jack Kriegl (8 points), Gavin Trevillian (2 points), Buckley (17 points), Gaige Sorenson (4 points) and Alexander Erickson (6 points).

The Flivvers’ five-game road stretch continues on Tuesday as they face off with West Iron County in Iron River.

Report compiled by Daily News sports editor Sean Chase.