SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- — Jace Easley had 32 points on Saturday night and No. 11 Our Savior's overwhelmed Little Flower in a 92-53 blowout.
Our Savior's welcomed great performances from Conor McCaffrey and Drew Dejaynes. McCaffrey finished with twenty points, six assists and six rebounds for Our Savior's (2-0), while Dejaynes, who is battling a shoulder injury, added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Cal Johnson led the Falcons (1-1) with 13 points, while Seamus O'Brien added eight points.
Easley also had a career-high 18 rebounds and dished out five assists for Our Savior's, while Owen Hill added 7 points.
“I’ve always been very positive about Jace,” Our Savior's coach Todd Dejaynes said. “I think he’s ready to take that next step. I think we’re starting to see that. Now he’s got another step (to take).”
McCaffrey, made his presence felt early on, making four first-half assists. One was a lob to a streaking Easley for an open layup and another was a no-look pass over his shoulder to Elijah Oldham, who made the layup.
“(McCaffrey) has got abilities that very few have,” Dejaynes said. “I hope everybody appreciates what they see sometimes because it is very spectacular. It is very rare.”
The Eagles started the game with an 18-4 run, while Little Flower started 2 of 11 from the field.
Our Savior's finished the first half on an 18-2 run, and went into the break with a 48-26 lead and a 15-2 edge in transition points.
TRASH TALK
McCaffrey got into a few testy exchanges with the Little Flower bench, and both head coaches of the respective teams received technical fouls. After making a layup with 5:33 to go in the first half, McCaffrey looked over to the Falcons’ bench and said something, right in front of one of the officials, and was given a technical foul.
McCaffrey said afterward that someone on the bench was swearing at him.
“Instead of talking trash, I made that nice layup and then made a joke,” McCaffrey said. “That’s it.”
BIG PICTURE:
Our Savior's heads into the next week with plenty of confidence, a team that is playing well with each other is going to be dangerous come playoff time.
UP NEXT:
Illinois: At Lincoln Way Central on Tuesday.
Little Flower: Hosts Central Baptist on Tuesday.