Danville, Ill. -- _ Jace Easley scored 36 points, point guard Conor McCaffrey also scored 36 and Our Savior's out of Springfield beat Danville 92-30 on Monday in the season opener for both teams.
Jeremiah Perkins added a career high 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first ever double-double. Easley pulled in 12 rebounds for a double-double while McCaffrey had 16 assists for a double-double of his own.
McCaffrey shot 14 of 16 from the field, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range, as Our Savior's fell five points short of its record scoring total. Our Savior's hit 12 of 22 3-pointers, a program record.
"Our shooting is certaintly better than a year ago," Our Savior's head coach Phillip Heppe said. "Jace and Conor are elite shooters from the outside. I think we're going to be a pretty good shooting team this year."
Blake Harris scored 12 points to lead the Danville Crusaders.
OVER EARLY
The Crusaders took an early 4-3 lead only to watch it evaporate as the Eagles went on a 24-0 run to lead 32-5 with time still on the clock in the first half.
"This was a scrimmage for us," Danville coach Will Jones said. "We got to see how are guys can play. I saw some good things. Our guard play was pretty good, I thought."
Our Savior's guard play was better, especially in the first half.
McCaffrey, a projected Pleasant Plains Cardinal, was the Eagles pass first playmaker last season, but tonight scored 26 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range and Easley scored 24, including 6 rebounds, all in the first half.
"Yeah, we have a chip on our shoulder," McCaffrey said. "We want more. We're striving for greatness here."
Our Savior's led 62-10 at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
While Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe has said his team was playing only only a LSA conference schedule to help look at how strong the team was going to be, the Crusaders of Danville offered Heppe and his coaching staff an early glimpse at how this talented Our Savior's team looks on the court.
"I'm just pleased we're able to play at this level, and most importantly with a lot new guys this season," Heppe said. "It's a thanks to a lot of hard work, that we are able to play at this level."
"When teams load up defensively on Jace and Conor, it's nice to have guys around who can help pick up the slack," he said. "Because in the open court, Jace is one of the elite players in the State and he gets teams' attention."
THE NEW GUYS
Our Savior's returns McCaffrey, Easley, Perkins, Carlove, Klockenga, Oldham and Powell.
The Eagles lost Mullen, Lahniers, Benning, King, Smoot, Oldham, and Shipman.
The New Guys, Schmidt, Seifert, Turnbull, Strauch, Allen, and First.
HE SAID IT
"We have a lot to prove this year," Easley said. "I think we were pretty successful today, and we got the win. Now we need to just build on this and come back tomorrow."
UP NEXT
The Danville Crusaders: Plays Pleasant Plains in the second round of the three-day tournament on Tuesday.
Our Savior's" Hosts Chicago Patrick in the second round of the tournament on Tuesday. Chicago Patrick replaced Mount Zion, who withdrew last Friday due to complications within the basketball program.