Eastern Brown’s Luke Garrett (2) puts up a shot over a couple of North Adams defenders in Friday’s contest in Seaman. The Warriors pulled through with a 65-43 victory. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

Eastern Brown’s Luke Garrett (2) puts up a shot over a couple of North Adams defenders in Friday’s contest in Seaman. The Warriors pulled through with a 65-43 victory. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

<p>Eastern Brown’s Ryan Boone races down the court after collecting a steal during Friday’s contest with North Adams. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)</p>

Eastern Brown’s Ryan Boone races down the court after collecting a steal during Friday’s contest with North Adams. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

SEAMAN — An early statement made.

Not according to Eastern Brown though.

The Warriors made a trip to Seaman Friday and showed they’re still the class of the SHAC with a 65-43 win over North Adams.

“There’s no statement yet. Statement will be at the end of the year,” Warriors coach Rob Beucler said. “We’re just happy, humble and hungry from last year. We have to remember not every day is the same, we’re not always going to be the big dog.”

With both teams highly anticipated to battle for a SHAC title throughout the season, it was the Warriors taking round one.

Eastern Brown controlled the game from after the first quarter on, forced 24 North Adams turnovers and cruised to improve to 2-0 on the season. It was a three-quarter court trap that flustered the Green Devils on the evening, who struggled shooting, hitting just seven of 26 3-point attempts and 39 percent from the field.

“The kids got after it and were aggressive. I was pleased, they listened, didn’t make mistakes and stuck with the game plan,” Beucler said. “I knew they were going to shoot it, shoot it, shoot it and if they got hot we would be in danger. I thought our kids responded pretty well, limited them to one shot often so I was pleased with all that.”

For the Warriors it was Colton Vaughn doing a lot of the damage with his 26 point, 11 rebound effort in the victory. Vaughn seemed to be everywhere on the floor, adding five steals and three assists, often times spurring the Warriors transition game with either his rebounding prowess or ability to read the defense and gather steals in the Warriors deadly trap.

Vaughn’s 3-point play with 0.1 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Warriors a 38-25 lead at the break after leading 16-13 after one. Vaughn tallied 15 in the first half alone.

“Just tried to penetrate and get into seams and find other people and when you find other people it always tends to come back,” Vaughn said. “After last year, we did win the Gold Ball and I’m sure we have a bit of a target on us. We get everybody’s best game and I love it. You have to come out and play good every night, if you don’t you’re going to get an L, just how it is.”

The defense then really ratcheted up the pressure, holding the Green Devils to 18 second half points as they built the lead to as big as 20 in the third.

“Defense stepped up. Limited what they got, frustrated them and got in foul trouble. If they’re hitting three’s it’s a different ball game,” Beucler said.

Coming into the season, the Warriors depth was a question mark with such limited experience. Friday gave signs that they can count on guys off the bench, getting 15 points from the bench, 10 of them from Christian Amburgey.

“Kids off the bench played extremely well. Gave us some good minutes, Amburgey, Andres Vargas, Christian Hoskins. Those kids kind of gave us a spark,” Beucler said.

Starters Trent Hundley added 12 for the Warriors, also getting six rebounds and four steals from the junior. Luke Garrett had four points after getting 23 in a season opening win over Georgetown earlier this week. He played more of a facilitator role on Friday with six assists. Ryan Boone added five points, Ethan Daniels chipping in three.

The Green Devils were led by Bransyn Copas’ scoring 17 points, hitting 4-of-8 from the 3-point line. Seth Meade added 10, no other North Adams player with more than four on the evening.

WARRIORS 65, GREEN DEVILS 43

EASTERN — 16-22-13-14 — 65

NORTH ADAMS — 13-12-8-10 — 43

Scoring: Eastern Brown (65) — Vaughn 26, Hundley 12, Amburgey 10, Boone 5, Garrett 4, Hoskins 3, Daniels 3, Vargas 2

North Adams (43) — Copas 17, S. Meade 10, Vogler 4, C. Meade 4, Hesler 3, Kennedy 3, Wagner 2

Field Goals: Eastern 25/56, North Adams 16/41

3-Pointers: Eastern 6/17, North Adams 7/26

Free Throws: Eastern 9/14, North Adams 3/7

Rebounds: Eastern 29 (Vaughn 11), North Adams 28 (Three with 4)

Assists: Eastern 11 (Garrett 6), 4 (Brand 2)

Steals: Eastern 16 (Vaughn 5), 2 (Hesler 2)

Turnovers: Eastern 13, North Adams 24

Records: Eastern Brown 2-0, North Adams 2-1