It was a play that would have usually gone against the Falcons last season.

Halfway through the second quarter of Tuesday night’s home opener against Port Townsend, South Whidbey junior Travis Tornga broke a 24-13 game wide open with the most important move of the night. Dashing alone into the offensive zone, he grabbed a court-length pass off a free throw rebound and went in almost alone for the easy layup.

It was a play the Falcons saw perpetrated against them plenty last winter. This time, they made it work for them, using it to get hometown fans on their feet in Erikson Gymnasium as they headed for a 75-47 victory.

While the two points the team received for the effort were not a gamebreaker by themselves, they ignited a six-point run off two straight steals that put the game away before South Whidbey and Port Townsend took their halftime break. It was a new feeling for the Falcons, who used a balanced scoring attack and a wide, 29-15 rebounding advantage to debunk the Number 8 state ranking a coaches poll had given Port Townsend in the preseason.

It just wasn’t their time Tuesday night.

“They’re going to be good,” said Falcon coach Andy Davis of the competition Tuesday.

But good later was no good against a Falcon team that was bigger and better in almost every way. After getting a slow start against a tenacious Port Townsend defensive effort, the hometown boys moved the ball around enough to make every player a scoring threat. Junior guard Kyle McGillen was chief among them, putting up 16 points in his best performance as a varsity player. Close behind, senior Josh Coleman scored 14 and grabbed five rebounds, and senior Brandon Turner chipped in 10 points of his own as the trio led a total of nine scorers to the win.

Davis said Coleman’s rebounds, plus six by senior Brandon Adams and five by Travis Tornga, were also key.

“It was nice to see us score off rebounds,” he said.

Now 1-0, the Falcons see more non-conference competition against Foster High School in a road game Saturday before they head to Lakewood next Thursday for their North Cascades Conference opener.