CRYSTAL FALLS — Eight seconds into the North Central-Forest Park boys basketball game Friday night, the Jets broke through the Trojans’ vaunted trapping defense for a layup.

That was the high point for visiting North Central as the Trojans quickly embarked on a 21-1 run to close out the first quarter on their way to a 75-27 pasting of their Skyline Central Conference Small Division rivals at Eddie Chambers Gymnasium.

Matt Showers scored six points, Kevin Giuliani added five, Vic Giuliani and Dax Hukki accounted for four each, and Izaiah Tarter chipped in with two during the streak that effectively ended the contest before the second quarter began.

Two of those players — Showers and Tarter — have recently fought off injuries, along with senior guard Gabe Quevedo, as UPSSA Division 4 top-ranked Forest Park gets healthier as the stretch run commences.

“Just healthy and fresh,” FP coach Jason Price said of his group’s performance. “With (those) guys back, I can keep everybody fresh and move them in and out of the game, which is positive for us.”

Showers has battled an ankle injury during the year, Tarter had an Achilles injury that kept him out for six games and Quevedo missed the first portion of the season with a knee injury.

With their full contingent of players, the Trojans can employ their full-court style with great effectiveness and Price can use his squad’s versatility in several ways.

As an example, against the Jets, Price put his bigs — Showers and Kevin Giuliani — at the top of his 2-2-1 trapping press. He then utilized his lengthy wings Vic Giuliani and Huuki as the second level with his smallest player Quevedo back to protect the basket.

It’s basically a flip-flop of how most teams use that defense, instead using guards in the first level and their biggest player at the back.

“I change the lineup every day in practice when they’re playing 5 on 5,” Price explained. “They’re on different teams every day. They have to figure it out, talk and communicate, who’s on top.”

And that’s just FP’s pressing defense. The Trojans are just as complete on offense. Showers and Kevin Giuliani can both score in the post, Vic Guiliani and Dax Huuki play the mid-range game and Tarter and Quevedo are effective 3-point shooters.

All in all, the Trojans (15-1) are a nightmare for opposing defense to guard.

Against the Jets, Vic Giuliani led the way with 21 points, his older brother Kevin recorded 15, Showers scored 11, Tarter finished with 10, Huuki chipped in with nine and Quevedo had five. Reserve guards Noah Starr and Aiden Waldo added a hoop each in the fourth quarter.

Listening to Price talk about his players is like hearing a coach describe his dream team.

“They’re just an unselfish group of kids,” Price began. “They work hard every day in practice and … they don’t really care who scores. The ball’s bing, bing, bing, moving around.

“Tonight, they were using Matthew, because he had some mismatches. So, they’re reading who has the mismatch, which is sometimes a struggle for high school kids. And me not telling them to, that’s healthy in the game of basketball.”

All that was on full display pretty much from the start of the game. After missing some 3-point shots to start, the Trojans got rolling when Vic Giuliani stole a pass and dunked the ball.

He then sank two free throws, Showers hit a layup off a high-low feed from Kevin Giuliani and Huuki connected on a bank shot off his offensive rebound.

Showers then recorded back-to-back layups, Kevin Giuiliani hit a driving layup, Huuki sank a pull-up jumper and Tarter connected on a drive to the hoop.

With that, the Trojans built an 18-point lead at the end of the initial period and never looked back.

Forest Park increased its advantage to 41-12 at halftime.

The highlight of the second half came when Huuki drained a long 3-pointer at the horn to end the third quarter to give his team a 66-19 stranglehold.

With a running clock, the teams combined for just 17 points in the fourth quarter with the Trojans recording nine.

Afterward, Price said he was surprised about the size of his team’s victory over the Jets (8-7), who had lost to Forest Park in the first meeting of the season 46-31 on Jan. 14 in Powers.

“No weakness (from) North Central,” Price said when asked if he had spotted flaws in the Jets’ team coming into the contest. “I didn’t expect the outcome of the game tonight. They must have just had an off night.

“I thought we moved very well on our press, and we trapped down on our half-court trap, which is nice.”

That led to 19 turnovers from the Jets and several run-out buckets for the Trojans. On the other hand, Forest Park turned the ball over just two times, which is remarkable given how fast the Trojans play at times.

With his team’s health rounding back into order, Price said the team is practicing more effectively as well.

“We hadn’t been able to go at each other all year except for the last couple of weeks. Which they do, they go at each other in practice. And I think that’s another positive for the team, they make each other better in practice.”

The Trojans head back into action today when they host North Dickinson (12-4). Forest Park won the first meeting 47-36 on Jan. 21 in Felch Township.

SCORING

NORTH CENTRAL – Eichhorn 4 0-0 9, Malone 0 1-2 1, Walters 2 1-2 5, Gorzinski 2 0-1 4, Willa 1 0-0 2, Burton 1 0-0 2, Sandoval 1 0-0 2, Farley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 2-5 27. Three-pointers: 1 (Eichhorn). Turnovers: 19.

FOREST PARK – K. Giuliani 7 1-2 15, V. Giuliani 7 7-10 21, Showers 4 3-3 11, Huuki 4 0-0 9, Tarter 4 0-0 10, Quevedo 2 0-0 5, Waldo 1 0-0 2, Starr 1 0-0 2. Totals 30 11-15 75. Three-pointers: 4 (Tarter 2, Huuki Quevedo). Turnovers 2.