East Prairie wins opener

EAST PRAIRIE -- East Prairie opened the 2003-2004 season with an impressive 79-38 win over Oak Ridge on Monday night.

Jordan Sanders led the way with 26 points, knocking down eight 3-pointers.

"He shot the ball really well tonight," said East Prairie head coach Jason Irby. "He was getting some open looks and the other kids did a good job of finding him. That's what we expect out of him."

The Eagles took control of the game early, jumping out to a commanding 35-11 lead. East Prairie never looked back, outscoring the Bluejays 23-14 in the second and 17-8 in the third.

"All the kids came out tonight and played defense," said Irby. "That was really the key to our quick start. We got a lot of easy baskets in the first quarter by forcing turnovers. From there, we just kept running bodies in, and I feel like our depth took the toll on them eventually. We've got 11 or 12 kids that can play and we tried to use that to our advantage."

Behind Sanders, Anthony Smith and Jordan Patterson scored 12 each. Roger Swann added 10. For Oak Ridge, Austin Morrison led the way with 20.

East Prairie (1-0) will travel to Chaffee on Dec. 2.