Senior guard Cameron Humphrey puts his arms out to block a Butler player from getting the ball on Dec.10.

The Jackets are off to a hot start to the season with a 75-57 win over Butler on Dec. 10 to stay undefeated.

With four players taking on a bulk of the scoring, it was a true team effort for the North Augusta boys' basketball team with a strong finish against the Bulldogs. Head coach Tony Harrell said the team knew they had to rise to the challenge early in the season.

"The kids had a tremendous offseason," he said. "And they worked extremely hard and they are seeing the rewards of all the work that they put in. We have played a tremendous schedule here early in the year, a few ranked teams. Butler played for the state championship in Georgia last year. So our kids knew there was a challenge at the beginning of the year and we met that challenge head-on."

It was all about finishing strong for the Jackets on Tuesday.

North Augusta took control of the game early with 24 points in the first quarter but started to slow down in the second as Butler picked up the pace offensively. In the first four minutes, the Bulldogs outscored them 10-3 before the Jackets finished the half with 12 more points to maintain their lead.

While it was senior guard DaRon Dunbar who dominated scoring in the first half with 17 points, for the rest of the game it was split between three other players.

Sharing the ball is one of the Jackets' keys to success this season and Harrell emphasized the importance of not relying on one player to always be able to score.

"We can only do it if we share the ball," he said. "We preach every single day; to be a great teammate, move the ball, share the ball. We have so many kids that can make shots and when we pass the ball to each other and we trust each other, this team can be really, really good."

Junior point guard Jordan Rouse finished with a team-leading 18 points after contributing nine points in the fourth to secure the win for North Augusta while junior shooting guard Quh'Mareon Webb and senior power forward Jamison McKenzie both scored 16 points throughout the game.

The Bulldogs started to mount a comeback in the third quarter, cutting the Jackets' lead to just five points after outscoring them 20-14.

Harrell said that momentum can shift a lot in basketball and that for North Augusta it's important to take control of the game when it matters the most.

"Basketball is a game of runs," he said. "The team that controls the runs is the team that's going to win the game. They had a great run in the third quarter, we were able to make the runs in the fourth quarter to get the lead back up and secure the win."

The Jackets surged ahead in the fourth, tacking on another 21 points to make up for the ground they lost in the third quarter.

While they've gotten off to a 4-0 start to the year, Harrell said there are still areas he wants to see more consistency defensively as they start to get a more complete team together ahead of their first region game against Gilbert on Dec. 13.

"I thought our transition defense was not great, especially early in the game," he said. "I had to burn a timeout because they was beating us up and down the court. Then we had a great second quarter to extend the lead and then kind of had a bad third quarter. So we were really a little up and down, that's going to come with more rhythm. I just got my football guys out. I still hadn't had a full practice with my whole team yet. I got two guys injured. So we're just kind of piecing it together until we get everybody."