Bobby Kleiman of North Central, center, tries to protect the ball as he is surrounded by four Mid Peninsula players in Powers on Tuesday night. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Dennis Grall)

POWERS — Jason Whitens and his North Central boys basketball teammates have been together a long time.

They’ve shared in two state championships together. And Tuesday night they tied a 59-year-old state record together with a convincing 76-24 win against visiting Mid Peninsula.

Whitens scored a season-high 33 points as the Jets tied Chassell’s 65-game win streak set from Feb. 1, 1956, to Nov. 23, 1958.

Afterward, Whitens was just glad to be a part of this team.

“It feels good to share it with this group of guys,” Whitens said. “To win this, hopefully gives us momentum for the rest of the season.”

Teammate Dawson Bilski scored 19 points, giving him 971 for his career. But he also was happy to tie the record and keep working toward more goals.

“It feels great to get a win like this tonight,” Bilski said. “Our focus is still on another state championship. We’ll keep taking it one game at a time.”

The Jets (10-0, 6-0 Skyline Central), will be out to set the new state record of 66 straight wins Friday night when they host neighboring rival Bark River-Harris.

North Central took care of business early against Mid Pen as the hype this week picked up toward breaking a state record. The Jets raced out to a 12-2 lead and 27-5 first-quarter advantage.