You always want to get off to a hot start, especially when playing a conference opponent, and St. Bede did just that in front of a packed crowd Friday night in Abbott Vincent Gymnasium in Peru.

The Bruins shot lights out in the first half and cruised to a 55-38 victory over Putnam County in Tri-Conference action.

The Bruins’ opening play saw Jose De La Torre throw up an alley-oop to Gino Ferarri, who quickly followed that up with a putback to put the Bruins ahead 4-0 early – a lead they would never surrender.

Kade Zimmerlein hit a bunny shot to get the Panthers on the board, but sharp-shooting Alec Tomsha responded right way with a 3-pointer to go ahead 7-2.

The Panthers kept things close early as Traxton Mattingly found Alan Castro with a nice pass. The next time down the floor, Castro got the putback to make it 9-6.

But it was Tomsha with a 3-pointer as the quarter came to an end to give the Bruins a 14-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

Graham Ross started the second period with a 3-pointer of his own, but Mattingly responded with his only long distance shot of the night.

Jacob Furar, who had a nice night off the bench, came in and was fouled on the 3-point play and hit all three free throws.

But once again it was Tomsha with another shot behind the arc on back-to-back plays that extended the Bruins’ lead to 25-18.

Ross joined in the long-range party once again with a shot behind the arc before Tomsha hit his sixth 3-pointer of the half, and then Geno Dinges hit a 15-foot shot to cap off a 16-4 run and give the Bruins a 36-22 lead at the break.

“Alec (Tomsha) really shoots it with confidence,” Bruins coach Brian Hanson said. “Then the other kids fed off that as Graham Ross drained a couple as well. We had a couple guys out, too, whether injury or illness so it was great to see so many different guys step up. And I thought our defense was solid to start the game as well.”

Tomsha started off the third quarter with a steal and layup, and then Dinges continued his solid game with a 3-pointer as the lead grew to 42-25.

“St. Bede came out fired up tonight,” Putnam County coach Jared Sale said. “St. Bede went on a 9-0 run or something like that and what disappointed me was I thought we stopped competing. That’s unacceptable. We need to clean that up from coaches on down.”

Dinges hit two more jumpers in the quarter, and the Panthers got a pair of 3-pointers from Brayden Zuniga and Furar as the Bruins led 50-32 heading into the fourth.

Ferrari finished the game strong with a nice pass to Ross and then picked up two offensive rebounds that led to a stick back as the lead grew to 54-35.

Braden Bickerman completed a three-point play for the Panthers, but the Bruins rolled to the 55-37 victory.

St. Bede was led by Tomsha with 20 points, while Dinges added 12 and Ferrari 11. The Panthers were led by Zimmerlein with nine and Furrar with eight.