Shortly after tipoff, Calhoun's Devon Pazmino hit a three to open the day's scoring. Oceanside would soon answer with one of their own.
Read that last line ten more times. That sums up the Colts' afternoon.
Riding a barrage of red-hot shooting from downtown, visiting Oceanside opened an early 16 point lead en route to an 81-46 drubbing of the Colts on Wednesday.
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Pazmino's opening trey would be the only Calhoun make from beyond the arc. The Sailors hit 11 times. Do the math, and it added up to Calhoun's third straight blowout loss, dropping the Colts below the .500 mark (3-4).
"They've got great shooters on that team and if you're not going to get a hand in the face and challenge, today showed what [Oceanside] is capable of," Colts coach Jay Kreutzberger said.
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Six different Sailors would hit from downtown, with senior Mike Bonomo (a game high 23 points) leading the charge.
Bonomo's early threes, along with the inside scoring of Greg Gilbert (17 points) paced Oceanside (6-1), as they led 31-15 after the first period.
The early deficit forced the Colts to try and match Oceanside three for three, and it wasn't even close. Miss after miss would turn into fast break points for the Sailors, as the Calhoun defense began to break down in transition. It wasn't much better in the halfcourt.
"Against a team that can shoot that well, you can't sink in on the help and leave them open at the three point line," Kreutzberger said. "You've got to extend your defense, and we didn't do that."
Forward Andrew Lief led the Colts with 14, and center John Wigand added 11, but it wasn't nearly enough, as Calhoun saw a 17 point halftime deficit double before their eyes.
Oceanside's Dan Collins hit his third three to open the second half, and the Sailors pummeled Calhoun 23-6 in the third period. The large lead allowed Oceanside coach Dan Keegan to empty his bench, with 11 different Sailors registering a point.
"Live by the sword, die by the sword," said Keegan of his team's onslaught from afar. "We make a lot of threes, take a lot of threes, [today] they fell."
The deep bench kept the Sailors fresh, never letting Calhoun come close to even threatening a comeback.
"We had a lot of turnovers in the second half," Wigand said. "We have to be better at closing out, and better with the ball."
After their third loss by at least 30, Kreutzberger knows there's work to be done before league play resumes against East Meadow next week. He cites patience on offense for extended stretches as one of the things he'll focus on in practice.
"If we can fix two or three things conceptually for the next game, we'll compete," he said.
As Oceanside did, better put the emphasis on three.
