BETHEL – It required a little time to materialize, however, the Telstar Regional High School boys’ basketball team pulled things together and lived up to its Runnin’ Rebel nickname.

Senior point guard Casey Fleet and Kevin Zinchuk each provided a spark by combing for 31 points as Telstar dominated the middle stages to rally for a 65-49 win against Livermore Falls Friday night.

The Rebels (1-0) scored 17 unanswered points at the start of the third quarter to break open a close contest and take an insurmountable 54-33 lead.

A trapping defense forced several turnovers, while some nifty team passing simply put a damper on any chance of the Andies responding.

Livermore Falls (0-1) was led by junior Brad Bryant, who scored a game high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds. But the Andies had no other player who could generate any consistency on offense in the Mountain Valley Conference season-opening game.

“In the second half we really executed our game plan,” Telstar coach Alec Newell said. “Livermore Falls had controlled the tempo early in the game. But, once we were able to run it was a different story. That’s what we need to do.”

Telstar slowly closed the gap as Zinchuk came off the bench to score three baskets, including a conventional three-point play. The Rebels then took their first lead of the game, 22-21, during the initial stages of an 11-0 run. Fleet (16 points) had stole the ball and dribbled the entire length of the court to score on a lay-up and made a free throw. Fleet grabbed a Andies missed shot and covered another three-point play.

“Casey and Kevin certainly got us going,” Newell said. “Casey is our leader and we expect some good things from him. I feel we have several players capable of contributing and tonight Zinchuk really came through. Usually it’s not his scoring, but rebounding.”

Livermore Falls controlled the early action, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the game. Berry, Dane Hanson, Garrett Young and Tyler Cote each drained baskets. The Andies led 16-8 after the first quarter. The three-guard style was running the show, but things unraveled quickly.

“We had jumped ahead early,” Andies coach Ross Hamblin said. “But, then we turned the ball over and our shooting was cold. Telstar was pressing us, but I don’t feel that disrupted our offense. We were playing without our No. 3 guard (Mike Chamard).”

Telstar shot 41 percent from the floor and received solid efforts from several players. Kurt Wight hauled down 10 rebounds. Alex Best, Josh Longway, Augest Reiss and Sean Caddigan scored during the Rebels 28-7 run.