Forest Park sophomore Vic Giuliani (32) drives hard to the basket with North Dickinson sophomore Trenton Kramer (10) defending on Tuesday in the Carl F. Lemin Gymnasium. (Terry Raiche photo)

FELCH TOWNSHIP — Anytime the top teams in Division 4 meet up, no matter the location, you’re in for a barnburner.

That was the case on Tuesday as the No. 1 ranked Forest Park boys varsity basketball team made the trip to Felch Township to face the No. 5 ranked Nordics in a Skyline Central Conference-Small School clash.

North Dickinson (9-4, 1-3) kept things close with the Trojans (12-1, 3-0) until the final eight minutes. However, the Nordics couldn’t slow down Vic Giuliani as Forest Park picked up a 47-36 win.

“Chris (Mattson) does a good job with his team and they’re never going to give up,” Trojans’ head coach Jason Price said. “And they can shoot the three, like all of those kids can shoot the three. Not the prettiest ball game tonight, but I thought our guys bore down at the end there.”

Although the Nordics stayed in lock step with Forest Park early, the rebounding totals told the story.

“It was kind of a tale of two quarters in the first half,” Nordics head coach Chris Mattson said. “They outplayed us in the first quarter and I thought we flipped the script in the second. We were able to get some easy opportunities in the second.

“The game can be summed up pretty easily. They outrebounded us 30-21 and we only had three offensive rebounds. That’s not for a lack of opportunities. We didn’t shoot the ball well. Against a quality team like Forest Park, they’re going to take advantage of that sooner or later,” Mattson said.

Trojans’ sophomore Vic Giuliani went to work immediately in the first quarter. He stole the ball on back-to-back possessions, resulting in layups for a 4-0 lead.

North Dickinson junior Ty King stopped the run with a free throw.

Vic Giulaini made a layup and FP senior Gabe Quevedo buried a right-wing 3-pointer as the lead grew to 10 points. After missing the entire football season, Quevedo recently returned to the Trojans’ lineup.

“Gabe came back against Escanaba a couple weeks ago, so he’s still trying to get his legs under him,” Price said. “Izaiah Tarter is still nursing an achilles. He’ll be back next week. I still haven’t had a full team yet, but we’re just battling through.”

King found senior Mason Anderson for a layup and junior Brady Jungwirth drilled a 30-foot 3-pointer, but the Nordics trailed 13-6 at the end of the first quarter.

North Dickinson turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, holding Forest Park to seven points. Sophomore Dax Huuki led the Trojans with five points in the frame.

Spencer Kramer found his footing on offense in the second, scoring four points. Trenton Kramer pitched in three points and Jungwirth added two as the Trojans’ lead shrank to three points at halftime.

“(I’m) trying not to over-coach in that instance,” Mattson said. “I went in and said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ Our matchups were working. It’s difficult to play defense when you’re not making shots, you get frustrated. We had opportunities underneath that didn’t go in. We had a couple in-and-out threes that didn’t go in. I think overall in that second half, we were getting frustrated and it showed on the defensive end.

“Credit to Jason’s team, they stuck with what they were doing well. The Giulianis were a load.”

Price and Forest Park didn’t panic during the break.

“North Dickinson always comes to play,” Price said. “I thought our boys started off good. … Talk at halftime was, ‘You can’t win a game in the first half.'”

Vic Giuliani scored nine points in the third quarter, helping to propel the Trojans to a six-point lead entering the fourth. Jungwirth and Spencer Kramer each scored six points for the Nordics in the third.

“Vic Giuliani turned his game up in the third quarter,” Mattson said. “He had a wonderful second half and they relied on him. A couple times he took the ball full court off the board. We knew he was capable of doing that to us. We’ve got to be a little better at finding him.

“I was pleased with our defense. I thought we played hard. We just have to shoot the ball better to beat a quality team.”

Forest Park spread out the scoring in the final frame. Spencer Kramer scored two points in the fourth and it held North Dickinson to seven fourth-quarter points.

“Spencer is a heck of a ball player,” Price said. “He can go right and left, he can shoot the three and he’s strong. He’s just a tough match.

“I thought Matthew did a good job of hedging. … Kevin in one of the timeouts, said, ‘Come on, let’s pick it up on defense. Let’s go get a couple stops.’ And coming from a senior, that’s huge.”

Kevin Giuliani and Vic Giulani each scored four fourth-quarter points as the Trojans secured the win.

Vic Giuliani led all scorers with 21 points. Kevin Giuliani scored 14 points in the contest.

“That’s a tough handle,” Mattson said. “(Spencer Kramer) was up to the challenge. He was on him the entire night. Same thing with Ty (King), he was on Kevin. You’re going to have to put out a lot of energy on the defensive side of the ball. I was really pleased with what they did against two very good basketball players.

“Our team defense was solid. I was very happy with that.”

Forest Park also received contributions from Quevedo (3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists), Huuki (7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) and Aiden Waldo (2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal).

North Dickinson received contributions from King (3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal), Trenton Kramer (5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal), Jungwirth (11 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists), Anderson (5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) and Spencer Kramer (12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals).

“Offensively, we’re going to have to clean some things up,” Mattson said. “(We were) a little bit sloppy at times.

“(We) still have three or four of those turnovers where you’re wondering where the heck does that come from. So we’ve got to clean that up.”

Both teams are on the road on Friday. Forest Park heads to Carney to face the Wolves while the Nordics are in Rock against Mid-Peninsula.