After a shaky first quarter, East Union scored more points in the third period than it did in the first half and ran away with a 68-35 non-league boys basketball win over visiting Tokay at Dalben Center on Wednesday night.

“We have been having a hard time getting going,” Lancers coach Charles Legan said. “Our rotation has been off, we have had guys hurt with a couple of guys out, and we have not had too much practice time where we have had the whole team together. We seem to get going after the first or second quarter.

“We have done that for the last three games. I wish it didn’t take me getting mad at halftime to get these guys to come out and give the effort, run the offense like it should be run from the start and play fundamental defense.”

East Union (2-2) forced six second-half turnovers, and it that same span the Tigers from Lodi (0-3) were able to grab only six rebounds.

“I knew coming into the game that our defensive pressure could probably take advantage of them,” Legan said, “In the first I half I felt we were out of position, weren’t in the right spots and taking too many chances instead of playing fundamental defense but in the second half we got in the passing lanes.”

Bryan Howe (13 points, five rebounds, three steals) helped the Lancers to a 24-11 third quarter with nine points in the period.

“We came out with no rebounds and no defense,” Howe said. “And in the second half we turned up the pace, took charges, boxed out and made steals. We played our butts off and played as a team with good shots and good looks.”

East Union’s Dylan Lee (six rebounds, two assists) led all scorers with 19 points.

“We came out slow,” Lee said. “We need to stop doing that. We need to come out strong and play like we finish games.

“We played hard in the second half and we need to learn how to do that the whole game.”

The Lancers dominated the glass as well as the court, out-rebounding Tokay 36-14. Nate Rodriguez led East Union with nine rebounds with Ian Metcalf and Nikko Nunez adding six apiece.

Majid Khan led the Tigers with 14 points.

Junior varsity

East Union 44, Tokay 27

Sergio Quezara led the Lancers with 11 points. Ian Rodriguez and Joaquin Delgado added nine points apiece.

Freshman

East Union 38, Tokay 32

The Lancers outscored the Tigers 10-6 in the fourth period to pull away for the win.

Pierre Rodriguez led a balanced East Union attack with eight points and Robbie Espinoza chipped in six points.