Hawks tangle with Wolverines

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Woodland’s Rich Rousseau (32) looks for room to work as Oxford’s Alec Golding (5) defends him and Oxford’s Cole Chudoba (2) closes in Monday night in Beacon Falls. Oxford won the game, 70-33. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI
Woodland’s Rich Rousseau (32) looks for room to work as Oxford’s Alec Golding (5) defends him and Oxford’s Cole Chudoba (2) closes in Monday night in Beacon Falls. Oxford won the game, 70-33. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

BEACON FALLS — The Hawks stumbled out of the gates Monday night and allowed Oxford to build an early double-digit lead — one the Wolverines wouldn’t relinquish.

The Wolverines took advantage of turnovers and their own hot shooting to earn a 70-33 win in the season-opener for both teams.

“We ran into a team with five starters back from last year. They ran a 1-3-1 zone on defense that we didn’t handle well offensively. We had 18 turnovers in first half, so that isn’t what you want,” Woodland head coach Tom Hunt said.

The game was within Woodland’s (0-1) reach at halftime as the deficit was a manageable 13 points, 33-20. The Wolverines (1-0) got hot in the second half and outscored the Hawks by 24 to pull away.

Oxford was on fire from three-point land hitting eight for the game. Oxford’s Cole Chudoba led all scorers with 26, nine of which came from beyond the arc.

“He is a good player and a great shooter,” Hunt said.

Jack LaPerriere (nine points) and Tyler Collodel (eight points) led the Hawks.

Senior captain Jon Scirpo didn’t play as big of a role in the first outing for the Hawks as he is recovering from an injury suffered late in the football season to his shooting wrist.

“Scirpo hasn’t practiced a ton all offseason and not at all in the preseason games, but he came in and played well, mixed it up and grabbed a few rebounds for us,” Hunt said.

The team hopes their captain can get healthier over the New Year break.

Hunt stayed true to his preseason word and employed a deeper bench than seasons past.

“We played a lot of guys to expose some guys to varsity minutes. [Freshman Zach] Bedryczuk, he kind of steadied the ship a little bit. So we will look to get him more minutes moving forward,” Hunt said.

Bedryczuk sunk one of the Hawks’ two three-pointers and is a player Hunt is keeping his eye on.

The Hawks will visit Kennedy (1-0) Wednesday for their last game in 2015.

“We have to go there where we will be running right into the hornets’ nest. They beat Holy Cross who, I thought coming in, would be a top three team so they are going to be tough,” Hunt said.

Woodland’s next game won’t come until after the New Year when they face Wilby on Jan. 5.

“We have time to get ready for the New Year. … So we want to be able to be better and play better in 2016,” Hunt said.