POULSBO — The Central Kitsap boys’ basketball team was looking for a way to rebound from a tough loss to cross-town rivals Olympic when it came into Poulsbo for a game with the Vikings Friday night.

And rebound it did.

The Cougs pounded the boards, led by Brice Brooks, who pulled down 15 rebounds — seven on the offensive glass — to go with his 24 points, as CK beat North 79-57.

“We rebounded very poorly against Oly,” said CK Coach Tim Fryer. “We got out-hustled and out-rebounded. But we had to put the past behind us.”

In addition to playing a team looking for vengeance as well as one with a considerable height advantage, North Kitsap struggled all game to keep up with CK’s powerful post players.

But even though more than half of all of CK’s players are taller than 6’’4’’ compared with North, which has only one player at that height, Vikes’ coach Aaron Nations didn’t use that as an excuse.

“(Height) becomes an issue when you don’t block out,” Nations said. “We have to rely on each other and we didn’t.”

The first quarter saw two players — Brooks and North’s Ryan Young, who scored 16 and added 14 rebounds on the night — go back and forth underneath the basket for both teams.

Central started to pick up steam in the second, however, making key rebounds on both the offensive and defensive glass. When North made an error, Central got the ball. When CK made an error, they’d often have two to three chances to correct it.

“We were trying to pick on where Ryan (Young) wasn’t,” said Fryer, adding that with his multiple big men, the team needed to be patient to find a good look at the hoop.

The third and fourth quarters spelled much of the same: too many chances for Central, especially on the boards.

“I’m disappointed and I know they’re disappointed,” said Nations. “We’ve made some improvements but I feel like we took a step back tonight.”

For the Cougars, the road to the playoffs is full steam ahead — but much work is yet to be done.

“This is a talented group of scorers,” said coach Fryer. “But I’m a big defensive guy. We need to work on the defense and then we’ll be able to hold any given team.”

North Kitsap (1-5 league, 3-9 overall) is at Olympic tonight, with junior varsity at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m.