WARDSVILLE, Mo. - If your opponent has almost as many turnovers as points, chances are you're in pretty good shape.
That was the story for the Blair Oaks boys basketball team Friday night, as after three quarters of play, the Warsaw Wildcats had just 23 points and 22 turnovers.
The Falcons had put 49 on the scoreboard by that point, and they cruised to a 64-36 win in front of their home crowd.
"Whenever we can create offense off of our defense, it's good," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "At halftime, if our stats were right, we had 21 points off of turnovers. That's key to what we try to do."
Some early turnovers helped the Falcons blow the game open.
Warsaw scored the game's first four points, only to see Blair Oaks respond with 15 straight, and the Wildcats had six turnovers during that time. The last two buckets in the run came in the paint from Owen Luebbering, a fact that pleased Fick.
"We were a little stagnant early," he said. "Then we got Owen going and they had to guard us at the rim. Then we kicked it out for some perimeter shots that we knocked down. When we can play inside-out, we've got two facets of the game to guard."
The Falcons kept building on their lead in the second quarter, as the Wildcats had nine turnovers and just five points.
Blair Oaks' biggest lead came at 33-9 when C.J. Closser drilled a 3-pointer, and the Falcons took a 35-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
"I think we're getting better game by game in the half-court with our offense," Fick said. "We're starting to understand our roles and where we need to get the ball."
The lead reached 26 twice in the third quarter. The first was on a 3 by Jordan Hair that made it 47-21, and the next was when Jordan Null scored the final points of the frame on a layup that made it 49-23.
The Falcons salted away the win by outscoring the Wildcats 15-13 in the fourth quarter. Their biggest lead was 29 points on two occasions, once a layup by Garrett Kliethermes and the next on a layup by Jason Rackers.
After making 3-of-8 shots in the first quarter, Warsaw connected on just 10-of-41 (24 percent) after that.
"We were getting them in a hurry with our defense," Fick said. "I thought there were times where (guards Joey) Cooner and (Randall) Sherman put the ball on the floor and got past the initial wave of defense, but we had good help.
"A couple times the help came from our bigs and (their guards) dished off for some shot opportunities around the basket, but it was going so quickly they rushed the shot and didn't finish because the game was moving fast.
"That's the way we've got to play with out athleticism and quickness."
Null, who had eight points in the third quarter alone, led the Falcons with 14 points. Luebbering and Kory Franks chipped in with 11 each.
Sherman had 12 points and Cooner scored 10 to pace Warsaw (7-3).
Blair Oaks (9-2) returns to action Tuesday at Hallsville.