The Jefferson City Jays got the ball first and scored. It was all Cardinal Ritter after that.
The Lions scored 16 of the game's first 20 points and cruised to a 77-47 victory against the Jays on Saturday in the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"I didn't think we played well in any facet of the game for most of the game and certainly the beginning," Jefferson City coach Mark Anderson said. "We didn't execute, we didn't guard, we didn't play with a lot of desire. That's our fault as coaches, that's their fault as players."
The Jays trailed 24-9 after the first quarter, but their defense kept the Lions from pulling away and the shots eventually began to fall.
Down 29-9 midway through the second quarter, Sterling DeSha knocked down a jumper, Ben Folz followed with a 3-pointer and DeSha added a layup to pull the Jays within 29-16 wit 2:48 left in the first half.
"We started playing harder and guarding," Anderson said. "Defensively we got some stops. We still didn't shoot it very well."
Then the Lions got back rolling. Gary Clark, a 6-foot-7 forward who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Brandon Ellington, a 6-4 forward, each scored a layup before a Luther Burden 3-pointer.
Mario Flemming gave the Lions a 40-18 lead at halftime with a buzzer-beating layup.
Ryan Brooks ended the third quarter with a second-chance basket for the Jays to make it 60-31.
Brooks scored nine points and DeSha scored 10 to lead Jefferson City.
Glenn Valentine made 4-of-6 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 16 points for Cardinal Ritter. Malek Davis was 4-of-5 from deep on his way to 14 points.
"This is a great basketball team we played tonight," Anderson said. "They had two bigs and they had a kid that could really shoot it and they had athletes, but we're going to have to play better than we have the last two games."
Jefferson City (9-11) will try to break its three-game losing streak Tuesday when it host Hickman at 7:30 p.m. at Fleming Fieldhouse.