WARDSVILLE - Monday night was just what the doctor ordered for the Blair Oaks boys basketball team.
Following a big loss to the Hickman Kewpies on Friday night, the Falcons spent the next couple days trying to alter their tempo, and it worked to perfection in a 69-35 rout of Hermann.
The Falcons forced the Bearcats to blow two timeouts in the first 4:10 to try to slow them down, but to no avail. Blair Oaks scored the game's first 12 points, led by as many as 22 in the first half and 36 in the second half while rolling to the victory.
"(Starting quick) was a huge focus for us tonight after the game we had against Hickman," Blair Oaks head coach Ryan Fick said. "We started slow, we continued slow and finished slow. Everything was slow about Friday night.
"The last couple days of practice, we really harped on getting off to a quicker start, being mentally and physically ready to play, and I thought we were tonight."
It capped a weird stretch of seven days for the Falcons, who beat South Callaway by 48, lost by 42 to Hickman and beat Hermann by 34.
"After Friday night's game, their pride was tested a little bit and they came out and responded," Fick said.
Blair Oaks forced turnovers on six of Hermann's first eight possessions, and the Bearcats ended up with 25 for the game compared to just six for the Falcons.
The only drama for long stretches of the game was seeing whether or not Blair Oaks' Owen Luebbering would outscore Hermann by himself.
After one quarter, Luebbering had six points to match the Bearcats, as the Falcons led 16-6.
At halftime, the 6-foot-4 senior had 16 points to nearly match Hermann, which found itself in a 39-19 hole.
Luebbering had 20 after three quarters as the Falcons led 57-26. When he made his last bucket before departing early in the fourth quarter, he had 24 points and Blair Oaks was up 61-28.
"Owen was really relentless on the glass tonight," said Fick, as Luebbering tied for the game lead with nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end. "He created a ton of points for himself just by going and getting the ball."
Luebbering ended up 11-of-13 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
"It was nice to come out and hit a few shots," Luebbering said. "Everything was going pretty well tonight, so it felt good."
The only other Falcon to score in double figures was Tim Fick, who came off the bench in the second quarter and promptly hit three 3-pointers. He added another 3 in the third quarter - going 4-of-6 from behind the arc for the game - and ended with 14 points.
"We knew that was going to be a possibility because of the type of defense (the Bearcats) play," Ryan Fick said. "Hermann plays that pack-line defense where everybody's got a foot in the lane. They really want you to beat them from the perimeter and we hit just enough shots from the perimeter to open up things a little bit."
Trey McKague paced Hermann (5-4) with 12 points, while Mat Hug tied Luebbering for the game high with nine rebounds.
Blair Oaks (6-1) plays its next game Dec. 29 at Fatima.
"It's a nice little break," Fick said. "We're able to get some time away from basketball, which is pretty important for these guys. They've been grinding it out for a while now and the football guys have been grinding it out for longer, so it will be nice to just be away from here for more than a day at a time. They're looking forward to it."
In the JV game, Blair Oaks put four players in double figures in a 77-22 win.
Tim Fick led all scorers with 20 points. Also for Blair Oaks (7-0), Thomas Verslues had 15 points, Dylan Skinner added 14 and Clayton Backes chipped in with 11.