The start and finish to the first half of the opening game of the season went about flawlessly for the Jimmie men Saturday afternoon.
As a result, win No. 1 came pretty comfortably too.
The Jimmies scored the first 12 points of the game, and then for good measure, finished the opening half on an 11-0 run building a big 20-point lead en route to a 76-57 victory over the University of Winnipeg.
The Jimmies put the clamps on the Wesmen, who committed 32 turnovers and made just 17 of their 43 shots.
"For a first game, I thought it was good, especially defensively," JC coach Matt Murken said. "I thought we really pressured them and made things hard for them."
ADVERTISEMENT
The Wesmen came into the game with three wins and a narrow loss to Valley City State the night before. But they were never really in this one.
Winnipeg missed their first seven shots, which were all contested by the Jimmies, and could never get on track.
"For us to be successful, we're going to have to bring that level of energy on the defensive end of the floor each game," Murken said. "More than anything, I thought our guys just worked really hard guarding them. That to me was the most encouraging thing."
Murken played 13 guys and 10 of them registered 10 minutes or more.
