AMHERST — The last time that Smith Vocational faced off against PVCICS, the Vikings didn’t get off to as strong of a start as they wanted to. On an overcast Friday afternoon rematch, they wanted to change that.

“The first game we had, we started off really slow,” Smith Voc’s Jayon Black said. “So we just wanted to get our stuff together. We practiced a lot. We were ready for this.”

The Vikings raced out to a 17-2 start in the first quarter against the Dragons en route to a 66-28 win. Black led the way with 17 points, followed closely by fellow senior Marshall Ingram with 14 points and Myles Chinappa with 11. Owen Tuttle led the way for PVCICS, collecting 11 points.

Seniors Black and Ingram are head coach Akara Holder’s go-to players when it comes to setting up the team’s offense. As talented as they are at scoring the ball, they’re equally necessary to get the team set up in its offensive structure.

“Marshall and Jayon are my people who I look to basically running that offense, whether they score or not is inconsequential. It’s whether or not they are getting everybody else to move into their proper places,” Holder said. “When they do that, it’s not those two are scoring really, it’s everybody else, and then they can score at will too. That’s what I’m looking for.”

That’s what he got on Friday afternoon. Whether it was Ingram or Black running the play, both orchestrated their team beautifully, and as a result the rest of the Vikings were able to shine. Holder was able to rotate in his entire bench, and nearly every player ended up on the score sheet.

“The great thing is they all played and it looks like everybody scored. That’s the mentality that I try to preach to them is ball movement and you look for the open person no matter who that open person is,” Holder said. “Then you have more things in your utility belt than just one big gun.”

The assists were coming from all over the floor for the Vikings, just like Holder wanted. It wasn’t just that every Vikings player stepped on the floor – everyone was an important part of the team’s offense, stepping up and taking shots, grabbing boards and moving the ball around the court. While sometimes that got the best of Smith Voc with accidental turnovers, for the most part it was their most lethal weapon against the Dragons.

“(Passing) is very important. (Holder) tells us to swing the ball all the time, just find the open man. That’s what we’re gonna do,” Black said.

The Dragons are a young squad this year, focusing on the fundamentals and building chemistry together. There were flashes when you could see the skills that they’d accumulated – outscoring Smith Voc 6-2 to open the second period, and going on a 9-4 run early in the fourth quarter.

“They’re really young, it’s been rough. They play hard – the effort they give every night is perfect,” PVCICS head coach John Gingras said. “Just our skill level needs to be a little bit (better) because we’re so young.”

The team is almost entirely underclassmen – junior Owen Tuttle is the sole upperclassman on the team. While not the most vocal player on the team, he’s been someone the Dragons can look to as a role model for how to practice and play.

“He’s kind of a quiet leader, but he leads by example, does a great job and gets the kids where they need to be,” Gingras said on Tuttle.

Regardless of the score, the Dragons kept up their effort from start to finish. The fourth quarter was the most successful for PVCICS – 14 of their 28 points came in the final eight minutes, with five different Dragons getting on the board.

“They play hard the whole time. No matter the score, they never stop, and that’s what you want,” Holder said. “They didn’t give up.”

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