Published: November 04, 2009 03:51 pm      

Roff, Vanoss split openers

ROFF — Both the Roff and Vanoss high school basketball programs opened the season Tuesday night with wins as their 2009-10 seasons began.

In the boys’ game, the Tigers, a Class A state quarterfinalist last season, did not have any problems with handling the Wolves, posting a 64-36 victory.

As for the opener on the night, the Lady Wolves also ended up winning away, earning a 46-26 win over the host Lady Tigers.

BOYS

Roff 64, Vanoss 36

The Tigers (1-0) opened the game by scoring the first 11 points, the last on a Blake Logan basket with 4:54 left in the first quarter.

The first points for the Wolves (0-1) did not come until the 4:16 mark of the period on a basket by Dexter Priest, cutting the deficit to 11-2 — which was as close as the Wolves would get on this night. Roff took a 15-3 lead into the second frame.

Thanks to an 8-0 run to begin the second period, the Tigers enjoyed a 29-6 lead at halftime.

The Roff lead got to as great as 39 points as a basket by Aaron Cornell gave the Tigers a 59-20 advantage with 6:03 left to play in the game.

“We got out of the gate fast,” Roff boys coach Kale Simon said. “We were excited, which I was glad to see. We played real hard defensively. Our intensity was strong. Then, reality kind of caught us. We got out of breath, and realized we were kind of human once again. It was a typical first game. We aren’t perfect, and if we were we would not need to practice. We made mistakes. We were sloppy, and we have a lot of cleaning up we’ve got to do.”

The Wolves still trailed by 30 points at 64-34 on a free throw by Nick Frazier late in the game before dropping the 28-point decision.

Brendan McCurry led the Tigers with a game-high 22 points, including five 3-point baskets. Dylan Lemley added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the hosts.

In defeat, Dakota Bolin scored 11 points to lead the Wolves, who shot 38 percent (15 for 40) from the field and committed 13 turnovers.

“Roff has a good team,” Vanoss boys coach Jason Fulks said. “We were 2-for-21 shooting in the first half. You’re not going to get it done by doing that. We just came up against a good team. But this is just one game. We still have 28 games left in the regular season. I think these guys will start showing people that we’re going to get after people. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

GIRLS

Vanoss 46, Roff 26

The Lady Wolves (1-0), just at the Tigers did in the boys’ game, did the same in the opener.

Vanoss opened the game with a 9-0 run, capped by a basket by Katie Priest, with 3:17 left in the opening period.

“Our fast start got us going,” Vanoss girls coach Jason Fulks said. “That’s the type of pace we’re wanting to play.”

The first points of the season for the Lady Tigers (0-1) came with 2:58 left on a basket by NaTosha Logsdon. That basket fueled an 11-2 run for Roff, which tied the game at 11-all on a 3-point basket by Taylor Canida with 5:17 left in the second period.

“We thought we were on a roll there for a little bit,” Roff girls coach Scott Roe said. “Then we ended up falling back into the same thing (we had to begin the game) with turnovers. Our freshmen mentality got back into us a little bit.”

But the Vanoss girls responded with an 11-0 run of their own. A free throw by Priest with 1:49 left before halftime gave the Lady Wolves a 22-11 lead.

Logsdon’s basket with 7:21 remaining in the third quarter cut the Vanoss lead to 22-16, but that would end up being as close as the Lady Tigers would get the rest of the way.

The Lady Wolves ended the period with a 6-3 run, capped by Priest’s basket with 1:59 left in the quarter, gave Vanoss a 28-19 lead going into the final period.

The Vanoss lead reached as high as 23 points at 44-21 with 3:59 left to play on a basket by Gage Parker.

The closest Roff got after that was 18 points at 44-26 with 1:45 remaining in the game on a free throw by Kelsey Anderson — which capped a 5-0 run for the Lady Tigers.

“The girls really responded well after being with me for only two weeks,” Fulks said. “They got out there, and got after it. I told the girls that this is going to be our calling card. We’re going to go chase people, and get after them.”

Three players hit for double-figures for Vanoss, led by Parker’s 11. Madison Oliver and Layni Cantwell each added 10 for the Lady Wolves.

In defeat, Logsdon and Casey Kelly each scored seven points to lead the Lady Tigers — who committed 25 turnovers and hit only eight of their 49 shots (16 percent) from the floor.

“We had a lot of turnovers, but we have a lot of freshmen playing,” Roe said. “Turnovers definitely hurt us. That made things a little difficult there for us. But we’re still going through a learning process. It was the first game of the season, so we’re going to try to regroup and do a little better job next time. We’re young, but we’re confident. We’ve just got to get better. That’s all there is to it.”

Both schools will not hit the hardwood for another week. The Vanoss cagers will play their home openers next Tuesday against Calvin, while the Roff teams will entertain Varnum on the same night.