The DeKalb County Tigers opened up district play hosting the York Institue Purple Dragons.
Behind a team effort that saw eight players score, the Tigers extinguished any hopes of a Dragon upset with a 63-36 blowout win.
The Tigers, led by Stephen Howell, jumped out to a 10-point lead at the end of the first period with the score 17-7.
During the second period, DeKalb's offense and defense kept pace as the Tigers scored 16 points while allowing only seven for the second consecutive period. The Tigers took a comfortable 33-14 lead into halftime.
Tigers' senior center Braxton Atnip scored four points to help keep some pressure on the Purple Dragons. At the end of the third period the Tigers led the Purple Dragons 47-27.
Six different Tiger players scored in the final period to account for 16 total points to help seal the win for DeKalb.
The Tigers’ defense would only surrender nine points during the fourth period, and the game ended with DeKalb on top 63-36.  
DeKalb’s Stephen Howell led all scorers with 19 points followed by Sonni Fullilove who scored 17 points. Ethan Roller had eight points with both Lucas Phillips and Braxton Atnip each dropping in five for the Tigers.
Eli Lomas contributed four points, as Aaron Patterson scored three and Justin Bone added two points for DeKalb.
After the game, Head Coach Lynus Martin sat down with the Review.
“Basically we want to win the district championship so we feel like our season started tonight,” said Martin.
“The last time DeKalb County was district champs was in ‘94-95. We make it a 12-game season. We feel that the district games are very important, and we should take care of our home games.
“The old saying is, ‘Win two out of three,’ but we have told them that it is going to take a 12-0 district run to win the district. We have been playing well. I have seen York two times on film, and I thought that they were pretty good. They have some big players down low that can make shots. I thought the difference would be how much pressure we could put on their guards. We needed to speed up the tempo to get it in our favor and luckily for us, it went that way,” Martin noted.
“We changed it up a lot, causing a few turnovers. Like I told our players, ‘the more games we play, the better we will get.’
“You can see from game one until now, how much better we are and we will continue to improve,” he added.
“We have been working hard in practice, running a lot, trying to get into the best shape possible.
“Everyone tonight was saying late in the game that they felt great, and that’s what we are looking for.
“I like where our tempo was, and I also like where our attitude is at. To begin the season, I was not very pleased where it was at. The bar is set high.
“With nine or 10 good players, only five will start, so their game has to be on,” the coach said.
“Stephen had 18 points. I thought he played great. He turned it over too much in the third and fourth periods. Stephen sometimes will do that because he is more of a two guard instead of a true one guard. When Will Molander gets back, he will take some of the ball-handling duties from Stephen.
“Lomas is playing very well on defense. Sonni Fullilove is playing on a different level. If we can keep Sonni and Braxton Atnip out of foul trouble, we are pretty good.
“I’m pleased with where we are at. Tuesday will be a big test for us against Livingston, who is the preseason pick to finish first,” Martin concluded.