WARDSVILLE - It took some adjusting, but it didn't take the Blair Oaks Falcons much time Tuesday to figure out how to keep the frenetic Versailles Tigers from scoring like they're accustomed to doing.
The Falcons tightened up their perimeter defense and became unstoppable in transition in a 106-58 win, limiting the Tigers to a season low in points.
"We're conditioned and taught to help and stop the dribble drive," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "Well, when they get to the lane, they're looking to kick it out to shooters. So as the game went on, we did a much better job of sticking to the shooters on the perimeter and they didn't get quite as many open looks as the game progressed."
Blair Oaks scored the first nine points of the second quarter to jolt out to a 34-16 lead just 1:30 into the quarter, but Versailles crept back in it.
Ryder Williams knocked down an outside shot from the top of the key to pull the Tigers within 35-23 and the margin dwindled to single digits after Seth Newton scored off a steal to make it 36-27 with 4:28 left before halftime.
Blair Oaks dominated from there, scoring 13 straight points as part of a 22-2 run to close out the first half.
Luke Northweather converted a three-point play following a Jake Closser steal at the 2:41 mark and Northweather later launched a long pass to Quinn Kusgen for a quick bucket to put the score at 53-29 with 1:22 left in the half.
Kusgen, who scored a game-high 33 points, closed the half with a layup in the final seconds for a 58-29 lead.
Northweather finished with 24 points and Carson Prenger added 12.
"I thought we did a really good job to look up the floor," Fick said. "After awhile we had Brysan (Jeffries) taking the ball out of bounds. I thought he did a really good job of making that direct pass to half a lot. Early on we were catching the in-bounds passes in the corner and they were getting traps."
The game's pace never slowed, as Justin Hamrick hit from the top of the key and Newton made a corner 3 in the first 1:30 of the second half.
Newton and Williams each scored 10 points for a Versailles team that's surpassed 90 points 10 times this season.
But the points added up even quicker for Blair Oaks.
A Blair Oaks steal led to a Kusgen three-point play with 2:03 left in the third quarter, pushing the score to 77-46.
Zach Herigon scored two of his 11 points on a layup with 1:35 left in the third quarter to surpass the 80-point mark.
A Closser 3 and Kusgen layup to start the fourth quarter got the Falcons past 90 points and Herigon made the score 101-53 with 4:26 left on a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Blair Oaks (19-4, 6-0 Tri-County) will look to win the conference outright Thursday as it closes the regular season with a game at Eldon.
Versailles (9-12, 1-5) plays Thursday at Warsaw and Friday at Hallsville.
Blair Oaks won Tuesday's JV game 73-25. Clayton Temmen led Blair Oaks (14-7) with 11 points.