Outcome tilts heavily toward the Tomcats

A mere eight seconds into the game, East Aurora's Ryan Boatright pulled up and nailed a 3-pointer.

The outcome wasn't decided by that shot, but it certainly foreshadowed what was to come. The Tomcats held Tilden scoreless until the final minute of the first quarter and crushed the Blue Devils 81-37 in the first round of the East Aurora Holiday Tournament.

Belvidere North, Senn, and Kenwood were winners in earlier tournament action.

Five Tomcats reached double figures in the blowout win, and 10 of the 15 players scored. Senior Will Brown led the way with 14 points, all in the first half, in limited action.

"With that many guys in double figures, that just showed that we were sharing the basketball," East coach Wendell Jeffries said.

East slapped its vaunted full-court pressure on Tilden, and the result was a feeding frenzy of Blue Devils turnovers. By the time Rashawald Daniels scored on a put-back with 58 seconds left in the first quarter, Tilden had given the ball up 13 times and missed its first eight shots. The Tomcats owned a 20-0 lead before relinquishing the shutout and eventually widened the advantage to 52 points late in the third quarter.

"My comment at halftime was to play with effort, and we sure got it on the defensive end," Jeffries said. "Our guys could tell early on that (the Blue Devils') skill wasn't up to ours, but we continued to play hard."

Boatright, a sophomore, played a solid all-around game with 10 points, five assists and four steals. He had plenty of help.

Jamar Shepard made six of his eight shots from the field to register 12 points for the Tomcats. Tramell Weathersby added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. And Lorico Washington had 11 points, five boards and a pair of blocked shots.

The Blue Devils showed flashes of quickness, but were no match for the Tomcats. Tilden ended with 36 turnovers, 23 of which came in the first half, which ended with East holding a commanding 50-13 lead.

"It was good to get all of our kids into the game," said Jeffries, who started Adrian Ramirez and Giovanni Padilla as a reward for their effort. "The guys that normally don't get to play very much work very hard in practice, so they deserve a chance to get a lot of minutes in front of a crowd."

The Tomcats (7-2) have won seven straight after dropping their first two contests of the season. They will take on Pulaski, a Milwaukee school, at 7:30 p.m. today.