MT. CORY — It didn’t take long to figure out the key to Jefferson’s 64-42 boys basketball victory over Cory-Rawson Saturday night at “The Hive.”

The Wildcats, playing their season opener, crunched the Fighting Hornets (0-2) 40-20 on the glass, 21-7 offensive, which led to 23 second-chance points.

“We felt we had a big advantage in the post with (senior) Chris (Wilkin) and (juniors) Josh (Miller), Matt (Gerdeman), Matthew (Antalis) and Bubba (Shivley). Those guys have taken a beating for two years now and it’s their turn to dish out some lumps,” Jefferson coach Marc Smith began. “A lot of our offensive success was getting the ball on the glass and letting those guys go get it. We thought if we could slow it down and play half-court, we could wear them down, which I felt we did.”

Miller owned the glass with 15 boards for a double-double (16 markers), sophomore Craig Carder had seven and Antalis six (10 markers, 3 steals). Shivley was bothered with early — and often — foul trouble. Shivley scored the first bucket early and Rawson’s Josh Curth (20 markers) followed. John Erford (9 markers) downed a triple but Jefferson replied to retake the lead at 7-5. There would be one more change of the lead on an 8-2 Hornet run (2 bombs by Blaine Beilharz: 9 markers — 3 3s — and 4 assists) for a 13-9 spread. Junior Michael Rahrig (15 counters, 3 treys, 3 thefts) dropped a triple at 1:30 to reduce the deficit to 13-12. Smith had his troops switch out of a man-to-man and combine a 1-2-2 3/4-court and half-court zone in the second period. It worked for the Red and Black as they held down the long-range-bombing Hornets (12-of-33, 6-of-19 triples, for 36.4%) to eight markers in the period and forcing nine turnovers (23 overall). Meantime, Jefferson had its way with whatever defense the hosts tried. They began to control the glass at both ends and shot 6-of-16 (25-of-56 total, 6-of-21 downtown, for 44.6%) as six players scored. Their lead reached 27-15 before a 6-0 Hornet run in the final 2:12, capped by a Beilharz bomb with 58 ticks to go, reduced the bulge to 27-21. “We did the same thing to them last year, switching into the zone. It worked then, too,” Smith noted. “In the past, it was because we felt mismatched; this year, it’s because we feel it’s a better defense in certain situations. Our man worked well in scrimmages and our zone didn’t. Tonight, it was vice versa.” The Jeffcats took total command in the third installment, outscoring their much-smaller foe 17-5. Antalis (6 markers), Miller (6) and Rahrig (5) provided all the offense. When Antalis put back his own miss with 13 ticks on the board, the lead had mushroomed to 44-26. If the Hornets had any hopes of a rally, they were quickly quashed with a 7-2 spurt to commence the finale. The closest the home team got was 13 the remainder of the night as reserves got into the contest. “For a first outing, it was a solid performance. For any coach, there are positives and negatives,” Smith added. “We have six or seven kids that have started for us at one time or another. We’re expecting games when some players will have a great game and others not, then a different scenario the next time. It’s good to go on the road and get a win.” Jefferson canned 8-of-11 singles (72.7%) and added 14 errors and 18 fouls. Sophomore Jordan Jettinghoff added four assists and three steals. They host Ridgemont 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Cory-Rawson netted 12-of-20 at the line (60%) and tacked on 16 fouls. In JV action, the Wildcats dominated their foe (0-2) 50-22. Sophomore Tyree DeWitt (3 bombs) splurged for 17 for the visitors, while Brandon Houck had 10 for the hosts.