It’s always good to open the conference slate with a win.

Homewood-Flossmoor boys basketball remained undefeated and got the South West Suburban Conference Blue season started on the right foot with a 86-66 win over a pesky Sandburg Friday.

“(Sandburg) is a really good team. They’re disciplined. They shoot the crap out of the ball. They’re unconscious. I think they play defense and they play together,” coach Jamere Dismukes said. “Toward the end of the year, I think that team’s going to win a lot of games.” 

The Vikings (6-0, 1-0) came out sluggish and Sandburg (3-3, 0-1) controlled much of the first quarter. H-F missed a few shots within a few feet of the rim and gave away a few unforced turnovers. 

Junior Bryce Heard made enough plays to keep things together.

“I think we were honestly just going through the motions in the first quarter. I thought we struggled (not) seeing the ball go through the rim. We didn’t make a lot of shots and we didn’t get a lot of stops,” Dismukes said. “I think it was just about getting the jitters out in the first home came with a nice crowd. It’s a conference game. I think once we settled into the game, we showed who we are and what we could be.” 

Senior point guard Gianni Cobb led that charge in the second quarter. He hit a pair of 3-pointers and stole two Sandburg passes. Cobb scored nine of his game-high 26 points in the period.

“The first quarter, my shot wasn’t falling. I was getting my team involved, letting them score. I know my team can do it around me. I’ve got good scorers around me,” Cobb said. “I was just waiting for my turn.” 

Carson Brownfield buried a trey at the halftime buzzer to give the Vikings a 35-24 advantage at the break. After that, they pulled away. The lead was as big as 24 points.

Sandburg was able to hit nine 3-pointers, led by David Vargas’s five. He led the Eagles with 24 points. Many of those shots came with an H-F player defending.

“Some possessions we might have had some mishaps but I like the fact that the majority of the shots against us tonight were contested,” Dismukes said. “That’s a really good 3-point shooting team so even when we did contest it, they were still making shots. Our hats go off to them.” 

Dismukes credited that defense but also his team’s rebounding in a game in which the Vikings didn’t shoot particularly well. The Vikings had plenty of second-chance points and limited the Eagles to only a few.

“We always want to play defense and rebound. I think if we can do that, we’ll have a chance to be in any game and win any game,” Dismukes said. “Even if our shots aren’t falling, if we play defense and we rebound, we’ll still have a really good night.”

Heard scored 19 and Brownfield 17 for Homewood-Flossmoor. Each had 10 rebounds.