Kingsford senior Gavin Grondin (20) drives in for a layup and over the top of Negaunee’s Kyle Waterman (20) on Friday in Flivver Gym (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD — Through the decades, the Kingsford Flivvers boys basketball program has produced many successful teams and several district champions.

But none ever did what the 2024-25 team did Friday night.

Behind a pestering and hounding defense and a 29-point effort from star senior Gavin Grondin, the Flivvers captured their third consecutive MHSAA Division 2 District 33 trophy with a 58-31 triumph over Negaunee at Flivver Gym.

According to school athletic officials, it is the first time a Flivvers boys basketball team has won three straight district championships.

Current Flivver head coach Ben Olsen credited former varsity head coach Dan Olkkonen, winner of the first two district titles in the current streak, as well as youth level coach Ryan Grondin for allowing him to get “a great group of kids who have been well coached throughout the years.”

“It’s a pretty incredible accomplishment,” Olsen began. “Winning districts is not easy and we have been able to do it in back-to-back-to-back years. Hopefully, the foundation has been set, and we can continue to be competitive and win a few more along the way.”

The three stalwarts of the KHS boys basketball class of 2025 — Grondin, Morgan Sleik and Gavin Trevillian — now hold an honor no other Flivvers have.

“We’ve had a good couple of teams the last few years and managed to get it done three times,” said the Lake Superior State-bound Grondin.

“And senior year, to do it on our home court in front of my family and all the fans with the guys I’ve played with since day one, it means a lot.”

While the Flivver offense didn’t get on track until the third quarter, their defense thwarted the Miners’ attack for long stretches at a time.

Kingsford (19-3) held Negaunee to just one point in the opening five minutes of the contest and took a 14-6 lead into the second quarter.

The Flivvers (19-3) then stymied the Miners for the final 3½ minutes of the second period to head into the halftime break with a 22-11 edge.

Then after the teams got on track offensively in the third quarter, Kingsford put the finishing touches on top of their win by pitching a shutout in the final quarter.

“We worked a lot on jumping to the ball on defense and trying to make sure we didn’t get picked off and making sure we were in the right spot at the right time to make plays,” Sleik said.

“We knew they were a bunch of shooters, and we knew we were going to have trouble if they got hot, so we knew we had to run them off the 3-point line,” Grondin added. “We kept them off the 3-point line, kept their scorers quiet and got out with the ‘W.'”

While their defense was on point all night, the Flivvers did not find success on the offensive end until the second half. Kingsford did not record its first field goal until the 3:59 mark when Trevillian hit a layup off an out-of-bounds play.

Sleik, who got the Flivvers on the scoreboard with a free throw at the 6:36 mark of the opening period, registered a putback with 3:33 left to give Kingsford a 5-1 lead.

Grondin then ran off his team’s next nine points on four free throws, a 3-pointer and driving bucket to stake the Flivvers to a 14-6 advantage after one quarter.

Kingsford managed just eight points in the second period, highlighted by a follow-up dunk from Sleik.

After recording just 22 points in the first half, the Flivvers equaled that total in the third quarter alone.

“First off, we had to lock in defensively because that’s why we still maintained our lead going into half,” Grondin said of the halftime session. “Then we talked about patience, that we were going to get our shots and they’re going to start falling and it turned out they started falling.”

Sleik spoke in sheer competitive terms.

“We just came out in the second half and we wanted to put it on them,” he said.

Grondin scored in transition to begin the third quarter and sandwiched a triple around two layups by Kriegl to put Kingsford up 31-17 with 4:55 left in the quarter.

The Miners then cut their deficit to eight on a 3-pointer each from Holden Meyer and Easton Guenette, but sophomore Jeff Buckley drained a deep triple from the top to restore Kingsford’s double-digit lead.

Negaunee sophomore guard/forward Kyle Waterman kept his team afloat in the third with nine of his team-high 13 points. But Grondin ran off Kingsford’s last seven points of the third to keep his team up 44-31 heading into the fourth.

The Flivvers put the game away with a 9-0 run to start the final period. Grondin began the run with a triple before Buckley followed with two free throws, Olkkonen hit a put-back and Grondin sank two more free throws.

Down 53-31 with three minutes remaining, the Miners seemed spent both physically and mentally and were unable to dent the scoreboard from there.

With their first goal achieved, the Flivvers looked forward to their next step and even beyond.

“We’ve been saying since the beginning of the year, it’s ‘Breslin Center or bust,'” Sleik said, referring to the site of the Division 2 state semifinals and final.

“I don’t have any problem with them setting high goals like that,” Olsen said. “Shoot for the moon and end up among the stars.”

“That’s the plan,” Grondin added. “One day at a time, prepare for the next game and live and go on.”

Next up along that possible path for Kingsford is a regional semifinal against Boyne City (13-10) on Tuesday at Manistique High School. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. Central time start.

Boyne City advanced by defeating Cheboygan (15-9) 50-48 in the District 34 final on Friday,

The Flivvers and the Ramblers last met two years ago when Kingsford knocked off Boyne City 69-56 in a regional semifinal matchup.

SCORING

NEGAUNEE – Waterman 4 4-7 13, J. Guenette 2 0-0 5, Gauthier 1 0-0 2, Meyer 2 0-0 6, E. Guenette 1 0-0 3, Grengs 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 4-7 31. Three-pointers: 5 (Meyer 2, Waterman, J. Guenette, E. Guenette). Turnovers: 22.

KINGSFORD – Sleik 3 1-2 7, Trevillian 2 0-0 4, Grondin 8 8-9 29, Kriegl 3 0-0 6, Buckley 2 2-2 7, Olkkonen 2 0-0 5. Totals: 20 11-13 58. Three-pointers: 7 (Grondin 5, Buckley, Olkkonen). Turnovers: 10.