After a fast-paced, back-and-forth first quarter, Sterling took control the rest of the way in its Western Big 6 opener Friday night against Geneseo.

The Golden Warriors scored at least 19 points in each of the first three quarters and used big runs to end the first half and start the second to pull away for a 77-47 win at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

Sterling (2-3, 1-0 WB6) closed the second quarter with a 13-1 run over the final 2:36 to break open a 28-27 game, then outscored the Maple Leafs 14-5 over the first 4:30 of the third quarter to build a 55-33 lead.

“They were out of energy, and we had a whole bunch of it, so we had to keep going and take it out to the third quarter,” Sterling’s Brady Berlin said.“We have a bunch of athletes on our team, and that’s what we’re known for. We’ve got track speed, and we’ve just got to get out and run.”

Both teams shot close to 50% in the first quarter, but after that it was all Sterling. The Warriors finished the game 31-for-58 from the field (53.4%), while Geneseo (1-3, 0-1 WB6) went cold. The Leafs shot just 13.3% (2-for-15) in the second quarter and missed all seven of their 3s; they shot 22.2% (8-for-36) from the field over the final three quarters, including 17.6% (3-for-17) from deep.

“It was just one of those things where our guys, we can’t let us hitting shots determine our effort,” Geneseo coach TJ Lacey said. “I just think when shots stopped falling, our effort kind of dwindled down too, and a tie game turned into a 30-point game real fast.”

The Warriors attacked the Leafs both inside and outside, and had eight different players score in a balanced effort. Post players Koby Bell and AJ Coleman both scored in double figures, as did forward Jack Saathoff and guards Berlin and Xavian Parther as Sterling used a mix of jump shots, drives to the basket and post moves to get everybody involved.

“I think spacing the floor is key. When we’ve got guys that are crunched up, we can’t get shooters open. We just have to run the court, spread it out and find the open shooters,” Prather said. “It’s important to move the ball, get everyone a touch. We know that we can attack their smaller defensive players with our guys who are 6-6 [Coleman] and 6-7 [Bell], so finding those open guys is huge for us, especially in the paint.”

In addition to the balanced scoring, six different Warriors nabbed steals, seven players dished assists, and eight guys grabbed rebounds. Sterling outrebounded the Leafs 40-28, with Saathoff’s double-double leading the way.

“We work on rebounding every practice, we do a drill where we shoot with a thing on the hoop and then go after the rebounds. It’s hard out there, and we just keep fighting,” Saathoff said. “Those effort plays are big. In our program, we live off hustle. Keeping that aggressiveness is big for us.”

Berlin hit four 3s and finished with game highs of 18 points and four assists to go with two steals and a block. Prather had 16 points, three assists and two steals, and Coleman finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Bell added 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Saathoff chipped in 10 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and a block.

Jaydon Burrage led the Leafs with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Jack Kreiss had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals. Kwin VanKerrebroeck also scored 10 points, and Brody Clementz added six points and three steals in a game that will serve as a learning experience going forward.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, for sure,” Lacey said. “It’s just back to the drawing board, just trying to get these guys to learn what it means to compete. It’s got nothing to do with making shots, it’s got more to do with just caring about every possession. We’re just going to try and keep instilling that mindset.”