WARDSVILLE - The week of practice leading up to the Tri-County Conference opener between Blair Oaks and Boonville served the Falcons well.
The Falcons rushed the Pirates' offense with their press, turned defensive rebounds into transition points the other way and executed their inside-out game plan on offense in a 70-36 victory Friday night.
"I thought we set the tone defensively," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "I thought early on we made things difficult for them on the offensive side. And when we got out, I thought transition-wise we were scoring off of our defense and then when we were in our half-court I thought we had great ball movement early on."
The Pirates actually got by the Falcon press on their first possession and Clayton Gochenour drove in for a layup to make it 3-2.
But in the next four minutes of action, Boonville (6-6) missed all three of its shots attempts and two free throws, and turned it over four times.
The Blair Oaks lead reached 20 points (22-2) during that time and the opening quarter ended with a 24-4 score.
Dru Rackers made it 12-2 with a three-point play and Trent Martin followed with a steal and 3-pointer from the left wing.
Rackers added a floater and layup before another Martin 3 to close out the 22-2 run in the first 4:30 of the game.
"There were several times where we got good post feeds and they doubled down," Fick said, "and we found the open guy on the perimeter and knocked shots down."
David Dell's corner 3-pointer brought the lead to 31-4, and Rackers and Eric Northweather each had second-chance baskets to help extend the lead to 41-11 by halftime.
Rackers scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. He also finished with eight rebounds, six coming in the first half.
Northweather matched Rackers' 15 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. He also had five blocks, all in the first half.
"We thought that was probably a key to the game was for us to pound it inside," Fick said.
The Falcons forced eight turnovers in the first half and six in the third quarter to take a 63-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We were a little more aggressive in it tonight," Fick said of the press. "We switched things up a little bit. What I had seen on film I thought they were pretty good in transition, so I felt we needed to slow them up a little bit. Our press did a good job of that.
"But we did a better job tonight at getting trapping opportunities and rushing their offense. They took some quick shots and we were able to rebound well in the first half and get out and run a little bit."
Blair Oaks (7-5) will have another Tri-County matchup Tuesday when it plays at Hallsville.
In Friday's JV game, Luke Northweather scored 30 points in a 76-37 win for Blair Oaks (7-1). Justin Backes added 10.
Blair Oaks also won the freshman contest 56-52 to improve to 4-4. Zach Herigon led the Falcons with 23 points and Konnor Morriss finished with 13 points.
The freshman team will play Monday at Fulton.