By By Bruce Hixon Sports Editor
It took a while for Pensacola Christian to get its offense going. Nearly six minutes expired before the Eagles scored. Another 30 seconds went by before they made their first field goal.
Once Pensacola Christian broke the ice, the Eagles heated up for an 80-63 triumph over the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks in Tuesday's season opener at Brewton.
JDCC's offensive start was not as good as the one its defense provided. While Pensacola Christian struggled to get on the board, the Warhawks only managed a respectable but hardly overwhelming 9-0 lead.
"We didn't cut their throat when we had a chance. You could see their (Pensacola Christian) heads hang a little bit during that time," JDCC coach Allen Gainer.
The Warhawks still had a nine-point edge of 13-4 after a bucket by Keith Myers with 12 minutes left in the first half and a 16-9 lead after John Madison's three-pointer at the halfway point of the first stanza.
The Eagles changed the complexion of both the first half and the game with their perimeter shooting. Over the final 12 minutes of the first half Pensacola Christian hit six three-pointers. One of those was converted into a four-point play by Brad Humble that tied the game at 16-16.
That was just part of a 24-8 run the Eagles used to move in front 33-24 by halftime.
While Pensacola's offense heated up, JDCC's cooled down considerably. The Warhawks hit just two field goals in the final seven minutes of the first half and just two more hoops in the first seven minutes of the second half. By that time the Eagles' advantage had swelled to 45-29.
Pensacola Christian eventually extended that advantage to a game high bulge of 60-38 after a free throw by Paul Baird with 9:39 left.
Free throws turned out to be a huge item on both sides. The Eagles outscored JDCC 22-6 at the stripe and had a 36-10 edge in attempts.
Richard Ford led the Warhawks with 22 points, while Arthur Richardson bagged 14.
"I think our offense will come, but right now with our youth we haven't figured out yet who will do the scoring. Sixty-three points won't win many games in our league," Gainer said. "I thought our defense did a good job except we didn't finish possessions very well, especially in rebounding."
JDCC, which hosted Gadsden State Saturday, is off until next Saturday when it travels to Lawson State for a 7 p.m. game.
At JDCC
Pensacola Christian 33 47 – 80
JDCC 24 39 – 63
PENSACOLA CHRISTIAN (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Anderson 3-5-2-23; Humble 2-3-10-23; Baird 6-0-2-14 Griffin 3-0-2-8; Yockey 0-0-4-4; Bowman 2-0-0-4; Dembowiar 1-0-0-2; Hershberger 0-0-1-1; Vanderboegh 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 17-8-22-80)
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Ford 10-0-2-22; Richardson 3-2-2-14; Webb 1-2-1-9; Myers 3-0-0-6; Madison 1-1-0-5; Jackson 1-0-0-2; Spann 1-0-0-2; Terry 1-0-0-2; Owens 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 21-5-6-63)