Dollar Bay’s Jacob Iacono, left, takes a running layup against North Central’s Lucas Dombrowski on Monday night in a Class D regional semifinal at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Jess Makela)

More inside: Rapid River slows potent Ewen-Trout Creek offense in other Class D regional semifinal. Page 6B

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NEGAUNEE — The North Central Jets have been soaring past each and every opponent for almost three full seasons, but on Monday night, their flight to another state title experienced heavy turbulence.

But the Jets were able to do what they’ve always during what has become a 78-game winning streak — close out games.

North Central withstood a furious Dollar Bay rally and an impressive 40-point performance from Devin Schmitz to dodge the Blue Bolts and earn a 75-73 win in the Class D regional semifinals at Negaunee’s Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium.

Bobby Kleiman led North Central with 27 points, while Jason Whitens had 18. Jaden Janke supported Schmitz by adding 19 for Dollar Bay.

“It’s about surviving and advancing,” North Central head coach Adam Mercier said. “It was two quality teams going at it and they shot at a very high percentage. We didn’t play our best game offensively and missed some free throws, but it’s all about surviving and advancing.”

The Jets continue their quest for a third straight state championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday back in Negaunee when they face Rapid River in the regional final.

Tied 34-34 at the half on Monday, the Jets opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run fueled entirely on the scoreboard by Kleiman and Whitens.

Shortly after the surge ended, Whitens threw down a thunderous dunk that brought NC fans to their feet. By the time the quarter was over, the Jets held a commanding 59-41 advantage.

It appeared as if the Jets were just going to cruise to their next game, but the Blue Bolts put a stop to that in the fourth.

DB began to chip away at NC’s lead early in the fourth and when the Jets tried to dribble out the clock, the Blue Bolts keep coming. A triple by Janke cut DB’s deficit to nine and later, he pulled off a three-point play to bring the Blue Bolts within six.

Then just a few seconds later, Schmitz knocked down three straight free throws and DB was only down 74-70. But unfortunately for the Blue Bolts, their comeback ran out of time.

“We came really close,” DB head coach Jesse Kentala said. “Going into tonight, I wasn’t sure where we would rank playing against these guys.

“We’re a confident group of guys and we believe in ourselves and our abilities, but we knew what we were up against.”

The first half began with North Central doing what it typically does and that’s create a solid lead. Buckets by Kleiman, Whitens and Dawson Bilski put the Jets up 19-11 in the opening quarter. Then the Blue Bolts started to climb back into it.

Back-to-back triples by Schmitz and a jumper by Janke pulled DB within one point. Schmitz later hit a fadeaway jumper as well as the ensuing free throw to give the Blue Bolts their first lead since the game’s first few minutes. After Bilski put in a layup, Mercier was assessed a technical foul on the sideline and Schmitz made both free throws to help the Blue Bolts go into the halftime break with a tie score.

“Any time that we’re down, we know we can score,” Kentala said. “Scoring is not our issue, it’s been on defense where we’ve had it. I knew that we’d dig in and hit our shots. We made this game extremely competitive and I thought the guys did just a tremendous job.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.