Eisenhower freshman Kymani Vine goes up for a dunk during Tuesday’s game against West Middlesex. Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger

RUSSELL — The Eisenhower boys jumped out to a lead and never looked back as they defeated the visiting West Middlesex Big Reds 94-81.

The Knights didn’t take long to heat up as senior Derek Guiher and freshman Kymani Vine each drained a pair of 3’s in the opening quarter to pace Eisenhower as it led 30-20 at the end of the first quarter.

The Knights hot shooting would continue as they extended their lead to 54-38 at the half.

The Knights were led by Vine who paced Eisenhower with 25 points, junior Rylan Benton had 23 and freshman Liam Hanson chipped in 25.

“The kids played really hard and fought off their runs well,” Eisenhower head coach Ryan Mangini stated. “We need to work on recovery and transitioning to half court defense better. Rylan showed his leadership tonight and had a great game. I thought all three of our freshmen had excellent games as well.”

The Knights played tenacious defense forcing turnovers and dominating on the boards which forced the Big Reds to shoot from outside and that kept them in the game as they drained ten 3-pointers in the game.

West Middlesex was led by Roman Golub who led all scorers with 28 points. His younger brother Nolan added 20 points.

In Junior Varsity action the Big Reds defeated the Knights 48-42. The Knights were led by Paul Mandeville who led all scorers with 21 points.

LADY KNIGHTS DROP OPENER

CORRY — The Eisenhower girls took the short ride to Corry last night and dropped their season opener 56-50.

The Lady Knights were led by senior Clara Steinberg who scored a game-high 25 points.

Eisenhower Head coach DJ Steinberg on the loss,

“We came out flat,” Eisenhower head coach DJ Steinberg said. “And made some early mistakes which they took advantage of and were able to build a lead.”

Eisenhower battled back behind Steinberg’s 10 fourth-quarter points to pull within three points, but could not close the gap and the Beavers held on to defeat the Lady Knights 56-50.

In jayvee action, Corry defeated Eisenhower 24-6.