Fitzgerald’s Vito Jordan is always happy after a win.

Well, most of the time — though he was glad his Spartans opened the season on Wednesday night with a 48-37 against Warren and MAC rival Cousino, he acknowledged that there wasn’t much else for Fitzgerald to smile about.

“I never want to be upset with winning,” Jordan said. “But other than that, we were pretty bad. I thought that Cousino, there were some problems early on with their physicality, they were really physical and well put together and fundamentally sound in the right spots. And so I definitely want to give them some credit for making a tough one as well. Other than that, we were pretty bad, you know what I mean?”

The Spartans ripped off a 7-0 run in the first quarter, which prompted Cousino head coach Joe Kohl to call a timeout. Ten of the next 12 points belonged to the Patriots before a steal and fast break got the Spartans back up, 11-10, at the end of the first quarter.

Cousino’s Nic Farr scored eight of his game-high 19 points in the second quarter to give the Patriots a narrow 22-21 advantage heading into the break.

The Patriots’ aforementioned physicality, which led to several Fitzgerald turnovers and a one-sided rebounding effort, was addressed by Jordan when they returned to the locker room.

“We got enough size and enough decent sized guards to go along with Keandre (Burtin) and Cyrus (Mpeba) to get in there and rebound,” Jordan said. “So I’ll take the blame on that. I got to do a better job of coaching that. But we just came out and was a little bit more physical and not falling on the floor. We fell on the floor in the first half as much as the football team.”

The Spartans’ ball security and rebounding trended upward in the third and fourth quarters. They out-scored the Patriots 11-3 to start the third quarter, and with fewer fast break and second chance opportunities, Cousino was held to just five made baskets in the second half.

Cousino’s youth — four sophomores played major minutes — was a contributing factor as the Patriots start their journey to find their optimal rotations, something that wasn’t expected to be solved in game one.

“A lot of guys are playing together for the first time,” Kohl said. “So I think as we get going through the season and we start to trust each other and build that trust, I think that things will happen for us, because defensively, I’m pleased. I’m very pleased with this game the way we played defensively.”

Along with Farr’s 19, Cousino got seven points from Kaden Underwood, five from Brandon Cade, three from Jordan Brown and two from RJ Wesley.

Of those players, none are seniors and only Cade and Farr are juniors.

“I got to really establish a starting lineup, because we’re so young,” Kohl said. “I’m trying to see how guys adjust in different atmospheres and in playing conditions. And a lot of guys that are younger stepped up and did good things. So, I mean, we’re going to have some changes moving forward, and I think it’s a good thing, because in the past years, I really wasn’t able to do those things.”

Fitzgerald was led by 14 points by Marcellus Phelps, 13 from Cyrus Mpeba and 10 from Keandre Burtin. Quenten Graham added six and Lydell Sewell and Miaen Shipp each chipped in two points.

It was a low-scoring night from Mpeba — the Spartans’ leading returning scorer — and the group didn’t have a good night by their standards. Still, they earned the victory.

By that metric, it shouldn’t be difficult to imagine that Fitzgerald’s ceiling, like it has been in the past few years, is high once again.

“We had some good scrimmages against teams like Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Warren Lincoln — can’t get no better — Birmingham Groves,” Jordan said.

“We can play with anybody. But when you’re not playing a ton of guys, you got to execute. And so we can’t just blow layups trying to get dunks and have some lapses, but we’ll clean it up.”