The Jayhawks improved to 8-6 on the year after rolling out to a 62-38 margin at halftime before cruising down the home stretch.

“My expectation coming into this game was to start the game better,” Jamestown CC interim head coach Xavier Churnac said. “When we went out (to Lorain) it was like 7-0 they were up. We came out not ready to play, turning the ball over. The first two possessions I believe were turnovers. We haven’t been coming out of the gate well, so I feel like today we finally did that. We came out with some energy, we got riled up and that got us off to a good start.”

The two teams remained tied out of the starting blocks at 5-5 before the fast start that Churnac was looking for started to kick in. Nathan Pelissier picked up an early bucket on a fast cut inside while Tyairus Sands found his range from outside with a pullup 3.

The Jayhawks then added to that spurt of offensive with back-to-back steals from Marcus Heard, the first of which was finished off in transition while the second was dished off to Sands for a 17-5 lead that forced a timeout from the Commodores.

Jamestown Community College’s Brian Mosquea shoots in between a pair of Lorain County CC defenders during Wednesday’s game at the Physical Education Complex.

That pause in the action did little to help Lorain County CC, as the Jayhawks got back to work with a rebound putback from Jared Fish, a long-range jumper from Heard and a pair of nice plays from Roshawn Reaves to make it 28-10.

“Fish, this was his first game back, he looked pretty good,” Churnac said. “We like to look inside a lot because he is really good at that.”

The Commodores were forced to settle for points at the free-throw line throughout that stretch with Justin Newman picking up three makes at the charity stripe.

Jamestown CC continued to find open looks from long range as Trayon Rumley sunk a pair of 3s, while Brian Mosquea added along two and Heard another 3.

That was followed up by a trey from Mosquea and some inside work by Rashawd Clowney coming off the bench in the run-up to halftime.

As the Jayhawks prepare to enter the second semester of play, Churnac is pleased with the way his team is able to find scoring from across its roster.

“I like that. That mean’s we are sharing the ball, which is what we preach. This is not ‘me’ basketball it has to be ‘we’ basketball, because that is where we’re going to be successful,” he said. “It makes it difficult to play against teams like that, because it’s not just one guy who is averaging 20, another guy who is averaging 15. It’s not like three guys, you’ve got multiple guys in double digits, that means everyone can play.”

The Commodores found some more success with outside shooting in the second half as Thomas Hronis and Jacob Marsh were able to cash in on shots from beyond the line, but Jamestown CC maintained its margin thanks to putbacks by Gassy Tchinkati off the bench, as well as more inside work from Rumley and Rashawd Clowney.

“We have to get everybody comfortable, not just a couple guys, because that keeps everyone engaged,” Churnac said. “The intensity was up, energy was up. Even if we were late on a couple of slides our energy made up for it.”

NOTES: Sands led the Jayhawks with 18 points to go along with two steals while Reaves and Heard would each grab 13 points with the latter adding four steals. … Fish grabbed 8 points in his return to action while Rashawd Clowney led the Jayhawks off the bench with 9 points. … Marsh finished with 16 points and four rebounds while Javon Jones added five rebounds and 14 points in the loss.

LORAIN COUNTY CC (81)

Hronis 3-5 2-2 10, Newman 3-13 4-6 10, Hodges 3-5 1-2 8, Marsh 4-11 5-6 16, Jones 5-5 4-4 14, Nelson 0-4 1-6 1, Bouldwin 2-7 1-1 5, Martel 0-1 0-0 0, McNeal 4-10 4-6 13, Linder 0-0 0-1 0, Yahnke 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 26-66 22-34 81.

JAMESTOWN CC (95)

Heard 5-9 1-2 13, Fish 3-4 2-2 8, Reaves 5-10 3-3 13, Pelissier 2-6 2-2 6, Sands 6-9 2-2 18, Jernigan Jr. 1-2 2-2 4, Rd. Clowney -5 3-5 9, Rn. Clowney 0-0 0-0 0, Rumley 3-7 0-1 7, Canty 1-5 2-6 4, Gilliam 0-0 2-2 2, Mosquea 2-4 0-0 5, Hamm 0-0 0-0 0, Tchinkati 2-2 2-2 6. Totals 33-63 21-29 95.

Halftime–Jamestown CC 62, Lorain CC 38. 3-point goals–Lorain 7-21 (Hronis 2-4, Newman 0-2, Hodges 1-2, Marsh 3-7, Nelson 0-1, Bouldwin 0-1, Martel 0-1, McNeal 1-3), Jamestown CC 8-15 (Heard 2-3, Reaves 0-2, Pelissier 0-2, Sands 4-4, Rumley 1-3, Mosquea 1-1). Rebounds–Lorain CC 37 (McNeal 8), Jamestown CC 35 (Tchinkati 5, Reaves 5, Sands 5). Assists–Lorain CC 12 (Newman, Nelson 3), Jamestown CC 14 (Rumley 3, Reaves 3). Totals fouls–Lorain CC 21, Jamestown CC 23. Fouled out–Linder.