The LBWCC Saints men’s basketball team picked up a big conference opening win with a 65-55 victory over the Jeff Davis Warhawks Thursday night at LBWCC.

The Saints broke onto the scoreboard first when Nick Green hit Quadarius Spence with a bounce pass under the basket, where Spence dropped it in for an easy layup.

Green picked up another assist on the Saints’ next trip down the court when he dished a pass down low to Patrice Sarrazin who knocked down a turnaround jumper.

The Warhawks tied the game at 4-4, but the Saints grabbed the lead right back  with a strong layup from Kenneth Keith.

After Jeff Davis tied the game back up, Green put the Saints back on top when he buried a 3-pointer from the corner.

Green then picked up a steal around half-court and pushed it down for a layup to put the Saints up 11-6.

The Warhawks then cut the lead down to one point with a pair baskets.

The Saints responded with back-to-back buckets from Green to push the lead back up to five points.

LBWCC continued to apply pressure at the midway point of the first half, and baskets from Spence and Marquise Neal gave them a 19-12 lead.

A few minutes later, Keith put the Saints up 24-18 with a long 3-pointer.

The Saints continued to add to the lead when Green caught a pass under the basket and then went straight up with a powerful two-handed slam.

Keith then picked up another basket with a flashy layup through traffic to give the Saints a 30-22 advantage.

The Saints closed out the first half with 3-pointers from Green and Willie Tutt and baskets from Keith and Kenzavier Tenny to give them a 40-30 lead at half.

Spence opened up the scoring for the Saints in the second half with a big 3-pointer, and then three free throws from Green put LBWCC up 46-34 with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

Keith then got the hot hand for the Saints with a layup followed by a pair of 3-pointers to put the Saints on top 54-39.

Another 3-pointer from Keith a few minutes later put the Saints up 59-43 with five minutes remaining.

Calvin Spence then knocked down a 3-pointer, and Keith converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Saints a 65-55 win.

Keith led the way for the Saints with 23 points in the victory, and Green finished with 16 points.

“We didn’t play well at all,” Saints’ head coach Ricky Knight said. “It’s like I said the other day, we have problems playing defense and we just aren’t very good at it right now. We are giving up way too many easy drives to the basket and giving up way too many second shots. That’s what we have problems with. We have to get better, and hopefully we will get better as the season goes along and we can make a run at state if we get there.”