By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
North Pulaski’s boys opened their season with a victory on the road Tuesday. The Falcons beat Joe T. Robinson 68-49 thanks to a big fourth-quarter run that put the game away.
North Pulaski stormed out of the gate and grabbed a quick double digit lead. The Falcons led 20-9 after one quarter and 40-28 at halftime, but the Senators came back to close the gap to as little as four in the third quarter. The Falcons led 50-44 at the end of three, then turned up the heat again to pull away for the win. Leading 56-49, the Falcons went on a 12-0 run to close the game and set the final margin.
“It’s always good to get a win the first time out the gate,” North Pulaski coach Roy Jackson said. “We played well at times but we’re still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There were some lapses in the middle of the game you don’t want to see continue. But any win is a good win, so we’ll take it.”
One of the key areas of concern was early foul trouble for the Falcons. Jackson doesn’t see that as a long-term concern.
“We were overly aggressive, trapping and just reaching a lot. That’s typical early on in season. When you’re practicing you don’t call fouls and you just let them be aggressive. Now they have to adjust to how those will be called in the game.
“We also have a lot of football boys that have just come over recently. We have to get them in basketball shape and teach them what’s going on. It’s a learning process early but there was more good than bad.”
Two newcomers led the Falcon rally in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Joe Aikens, who transferred this year from Jacksonville, led the Falcons with 19 points while freshman point guard RaShawn Langston dropped in 16.
“He didn’t look like a freshman out there,” Jackson said of Langston. “He showed some poise, played smart and took care of the basketball.”
