WALES – Ben Baudanza-Sturks and his teammates must of been licking their chops when they got off the bus Thursday night. The Oak Hill Raiders came out showing a 1-3-1 zone and the Rockland Tigers picked it apart from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Tigers hit on seven of 12 shots from 3-point land in the first quarter and led from start to finish in beating the Raiders 77-51.

Baudanza-Sturks nailed three of his five treys in the first quarter which saw the Tigers (6-6) open up a 28-12 lead. The Tigers stretched their advantage to 22 points by halftime and the game was never in doubt.

“When we know a team’s going to play zone our eyes light up,” said Baudanza-Sturks who finished with 20 points. “They left me open with their 1-3-1.”

Wade Oliver (19 points) and Baudanza-Sturks hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the opening minute of the game to give Rockland a quick 6-0 lead. With Oak Hill (1-8) pressuring the ball in its half court defense, the visitors found open looks with Baudanza-Sturks nailing two more treys and Oliver adding another to put Rockland up 17-8.

“It was like a Fourth of July fireworks display,” said Oak Hill coach Jim Ford. “We tried to go with a smaller lineup to give us more quickness. They found our gaps in the 1-3-1 zone.”

No matter what the Raiders tried defensively, they couldn’t stop the Tigers’ offense. Garrett Worster came off the bench late in the first quarter to drain a pair of treys. His second one came at the end of the quarter.

The Raiders tried a box-in-one in attempting to shut down Baudanza-Sturks to start the third quarter, but someone else would pick up the offense. Oliver scored nine of his points in the second half while reserves Worster and Brian Carleton combined for 17 points.

“I was happy,” said Rockland coach Matt Breen. “We moved the ball well. We’re primarily a jump shooting team. We figure with good ball movement we’ll get an open shot.”

The teams met earlier this season with Rockland using its pressure defense to key the win. While Breen was happy with his team’s offensive execution, he didn’t receive the defensive effort his team had in the previous meeting between the teams.

“I don’t think our defensive intensity was there tonight,” said Breen. “We’ll go home and work on that tomorrow.”

Oak Hill was led offensively by guard Mike Eaton. Eaton’s status was questionable before the game after he was involved in an accident a few hours before the opening jump.

Apparently, Eaton was unscathed from the crash which resulted in significant damage to his car. He ended up the only Oak Hill player in double figures and his 26 points led all scorers.