photo by: Kim North

Bridgeport’s Jaki Threet (1) glides to the basket Wednesday night against Beallsville’s Jameson Bable (2) during their game on Frank Baxter Court inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium. The Bulldogs rolled to a 73-31 season-opening victory.

BRIDGEPORT – It was quite the debut for the Bridgeport boys’ basketball team.

The Bulldogs scored the first 13 points of the game and never looked back in blowing past visiting Beallsville, 73-31, on Frank Baxter Court Wednesday night before a large gathering inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium.

The final 10 minutes were played under the OHSAA 35-point mercy rule.

“I really liked how we moved the ball against the zone (defense) that Beallsville played,” veteran Bridgeport head coach Donnie Cash said. “We shot a lot of three’s, which we do in practice. We’ve got a lot of kids that can knock them down. I just told the kids that if teams are going to play us zone on our home floor, we should be able to shoot them out of it.

“We were very unselfish on offense. We made the extra passes when we needed to,” Cash continued. “We’re a year older and most of the guys that are on this roster will be around for a couple of more years because we are loaded with underclassmen.”

A pair of sharp-shooting sophomores led the early barrage. Jaleel Vincent scored nine of his game-high 23 in the first quarter and Coen Brinker added eight as the hosts sprinted to a 21-9 advantage after eight minutes. The duo combined for 30 of Bridgeport’s 38 first-half markers.

Bridgeport came out sizzling in the third quarter as it tickled the twine on 11 of 14 shots from the floor, with three of them being bonus bombs.

Brinker knocked down his fourth and fifth treys in the third quarter before taking a seat, while Vincent added two buckets before joining him. They finished with 23 and 17 points, respectively.

Eleven players scored for the Bulldogs which was pleasing to Cash.

“I liked how the kids responded to each other. Everyone got to play,” he noted. “The biggest thing for us is that we have some good numbers this year and that allows us to practice better. The younger guys give us good looks in practice. I really appreciate that from them.”

Beallsville had trouble keeping a handle on the basketball as it was charted with 20 turnovers, nine of those in the first quarter when the game got away from the Blue Devils.

“This is our first game together and we’re all freshmen and sophomores,” Beallsville head coach Chuck Pagano said. “They are very fast and athletic. It’s like watching a Greyhound race. This is their second year playing together. They have a good coaching staff and look like they are going to have a pretty successful season.”

“Hopefully, we can duplicate what they are doing in the next couple of years.”

The Bulldogs shot nearly 50 percent from the floor (32-65) while the Blue Devils struggled at 10-for 37 (21 percent). The hosts dominated the boards, 42-25 as Avery Jackson and Jaki Threet had seven each. The athletic Threet contributed six points, five steals and four assists. Brinker and Vincent had five rebounds each.

Dylan Saffell paced Beallsville with 10 points. Gave Eing and Jameson Bable had eight apiece. Eing also pulled down seven boards.

The Bulldogs also took care of the basketball as evidenced by just seven turnovers.

“We took pretty good care of the ball,” Cash said. “On a couple of the turnovers, we made the right reads, we just didn’t catch the ball. That might have been opening game jitters.”