A six-game winning streak to begin the season for Lyons was followed by ups and downs, not at all unexpected from a mostly inexperienced group.

But on Thursday night, the Lions were back to being nearly flawless.

Holding host Downers Grove North to three made field goals in the West Suburban Silver conference affair, visiting Lyons cruised to a 49-16 win.

The Lions (11-5, 4-1) jumped out to a quick 14-1 advantage and never saw their lead cut to single digits the rest of the way. Grant Smith led all scorers with 12 points.

“I think just our three-quarter court pressure, we were able to pressure their guards,” said Smith, who was named to the all-tournament team at the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic. “Every shot they took we contested. We didn’t give up many open shots. The biggest part was our communication. We were able to make shots harder than they normally would be.

“And against their zone, we were able to get the ball inside. Everyone was playing unselfishly. It doesn’t matter to us who is scoring, as long as we are winning and getting buckets, that is all that matters.”

The margin swelled to 26-8 by halftime before the visitors began the third quarter with a 14-0 spurt, capped off by dunks from Smith and Tommy Sloan. Owen Carroll had a pair of conventional three-point plays in the frame and finished with 11 points.

“Coming back this year, it was really just me and Timmy (Sloan) with experience,” Carroll said. “We came together in the offseason and really bonded well. We all trust each other. We trust each other to hit shots and make the right play.

“We are just taking it one game at a time, just look and see who is next on the schedule. Obviously our conference is really tough so all of those games will be important for us.”

Lyons, which also got nine points from Timmy Sloan and eight from Tommy Sloan, currently holds the second spot in the league standings behind York, whom the Lions lost 40-23 to last week.

“This is how some games go,” Lyons coach Tom Sloan said. “We’ve had some games like that. In fact, we had a game like that against York where we couldn’t make a shot and they played well. Downers Grove North is a good team and they’ve beaten some really good teams. I anticipate when we play them the next time, it will be a really tough game. This is obviously not what we expected, just an off-night for them shooting the ball.

“Our guys did do a nice job defensively and rebounding along with sharing the ball and making shots. We have a good number of young kids playing who don’t have a ton of experience, so we are learning on the fly. We’ve had some ups and downs but I’m really pleased with how things went tonight.”

The Trojans (10-7, 2-4), who had won five of their previous six games after an opening round loss at the Wheeling Holiday Invite, missed on their first 25 3-point attempts.

“They are athletic and they pass the ball super well,” DGN coach Jim Thomas said. “They are one team that I noticed in their statistics that has three guys with a good assist-to-turnover ratio. They beat us on every pass, catch and cut. Everything was clicking for them offensively.

“That is how they look when they look their best. We certainly brought the best out of them tonight and they obviously played really well.”