Only able to muster two points in the first half, the Van Buren County Eagles walked into a blow out at DeKalb Middle School as the Saints romped to a 35-12 season-opening win.

The rout was on early as the Saints took a 10-1 lead, controlling the tempo in the opening frame behind six first quarter points deposited in the bucket by Robert Wheeler who finished the game with seven.

Things got no better for the visitors in the second as they again were held without a field goal, mustering only a foul shot by Caleb Lawson. Meanwhile, Wheeler’s first quarter run was taken over in the second stanza by Elishah Kumos who scored eight of his game-high 10 points giving the Saints a commanding 21-2 lead going into the locker room at half.

Van Buren was able to take advantage of the Saints taking their foot off the gas in the third quarter as they actually outscored their host 7-3 in the third thanks to a pair of Eli Scoggins three-pointers. Scoggins led his squad in scoring with six points.

The Saints; however, put the game to bed in the fourth as Zackary Birmingham shot the lights out, scoring all eight of his points in the fourth as DeKalb outscored Van Buren 10-3 to make the final 35-12 score.

Rounding out scoring were Stetson Agee with four, Ean Jones with four and Connor Close with two.

The Saints kept their winning ways when they traveled to Gordonsville Thursday, taking a 39-26 win behind 14 points by Robert Wheeler, 10 points by Connor Close, nine from Elishah Ramos and six by Stetson Agee.