Hayden's touch lifts Tomcats

Ryan Hayden has found his mark. East Aurora's sharp-shooting senior guard canned five 3-pointers Thursday night, clearing the floor for the rest of the Tomcats.

Opening the second half with back to back treys, Hayden extended the Tomcats seven-point halftime margin (30-23). East Aurora went on to score 26 points in the third frame and cruised to a 78-54 Upstate Eight Conference victory over St. Charles East.

The win was the fourth straight for the Tomcats, who improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.

"It feels good to contribute, anything I can do to help the team win," said Hayden who hit 5 of 8 from beyond the arc and has now sank 16 of 28 for the season.

"I've just been working hard at practice, getting here early and staying late to get extra shots," Hayden explained.

East coach Wendell Jeffries has been pleasantly surprised with Hayden's marksmanship.

"He's actually coming around a little earlier than I thought he would," Jeffries said. "When I was an athlete here at East Aurora, I played football and basketball also and my basketball coach told me it was going to take until Christmas to get rid of my football muscles. But Ryan has shaken it off a little earlier."

Eleven first-quarter points, including three triples, propelled the Tomcats to an 18-12 advantage. Slowing the tempo in the second stanza, East outscored the Saints by a point. Five different Tomcats hit field goals in the frame, including a 3-pointer from the corner by Michael Turner for the 30-23 halftime edge.

After Hayden, who scored a team-high 17 points, provided some separation at the start of the third quarter, five more Tomcats made baskets in the 26-point frame. Jamar Shepard hit three fastbreak layups and Andrew Dockery added six points.

Four Tomcats scored in double figures. Freshman Ryan Boatright finished with 10 points, Shepard added 13 and Dockery garnered 14. Jeffries was most impressed with his team's effort.

"I'm really proud of the kids coming out and playing with energy tonight," said Jeffries. "We've had some problems with players missing games and getting them to practice, but they gave a great effort tonight. I give some credit to the crowd for that."

The Saints managed 12 points in the decisive third quarter and trailed 56-35 heading into the final frame. Collin Pryor notched a game-high 24 points for the Saints.

"We hit some outside shots early and I thought we did a great job of running our offense," Jeffries said. "Ryan hit three or four in a row. And by him extending the lead in the second half, it forced them to gamble a little bit more on defense. They extended their defense and we moved the ball well and got some easy shots."

The Tomcats seemed to be on the run the entire second half, fastbreaking at every opportunity. Shepard, Kevin Lash and Boatright all set up easy layins with nifty passes.