Lourdes raced out to a double-digit advantage less than nine minutes into the contest on Wednesday evening and never looked back on the way to a 92-77 victory over East-West in the Gray Wolves' home opener inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
A 9-0 run put Lourdes in front 18-8 following a basket by Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) just 8:14 into the contest.  Another 10-0 run midway through the stanza pushed the lead to 17, 31-14, and the Gray Wolves would not see its lead fall to single digits the rest of the way.
 
Lourdes made one final run before halftime, a 15-4 spurt, on the way to taking a 46-25 lead into the locker room.  Welch tallied 14 points before the break while Little Anderson (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) added 10 more in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The lead ballooned to 27, 54-27, less than two minutes out of the locker room before the Phantoms battled back.  An 18-5 run by East-West pulled the visitors within 14 midway through the stanza.  Lourdes responded with the next 10 points to regain its 24-point edge, eventually extending the lead to 30, 83-53, with 4:42 to play.
 
East-West (3-12) scored the next 10 points to begin a 15-2 run, and eventually pulled to within 14 in the final seconds before the game's final margin was decided.
 
"Like I told the guys after the game, we won the game but I wasn't happy tonight," head coach Dennis Hopson said afterwards.  "Giving up 52 points in the second half was not good.  We had too many mental breakdowns and missed way too many free throws (60%, 21-of-35).  I did think our first group of guys did a nice job playing together on defense before I started mixing up lineups though."
 
Welch and Anderson led Lourdes with 18 points each, with Welch also pulling down 11 rebounds for a double-double.  Julian Egbo (Toledo, Ohio/Rogers H.S.) also notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards while Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown H.S.) and Mike Bruce (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti H.S.) added 10 points each.
 
Lourdes shot 46% from the floor overall, but was even better from long range, making 13-of-25 for a 52% clip.
 
Brandon Daughtry led East-West with 17 points while Luis Baez added 12 points and eight rebounds.
 
Lourdes (1-2) will remain home on Saturday afternoon, opening Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play hosting the University of Northwestern Ohio.  Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.