The Goshen Eagles began their 2016 campaign with an easy 83-38 win over Highland Home on Thursday.

“There will always be spots that you can look back and try to fix,” said Eagles head coach Ethan Carroll. “Overall I though the kids put out a pretty good effort. There were some mistakes, but the effort was there and that is always a plus.”

The Flying Squadron kept things close in the early stages of the first quarter and the Eagles carried a 19-9 lead into the second.

“We gave up too many second chance points,” Carroll said. “I think that really kept them in the game. We challenged the kids to play with maximum effort. I feel like we can do that.”

The Eagles pulled away in the second period, outscoring the Flying Squadron 29-2 in the quarter and carried a 48-11 lead into halftime.

The Eagles were able to force turnovers that lead to easy points in the second half. When the Eagles did get in their half court set, Carroll was pleased with the flow of the offense.

“We were able to get some turnovers that allowed us to stretch the floor,” Carroll said. “Once we did get in our half court set, I thought we moved the ball well and minimized mistakes and turnovers.”

The Eagles scored 27 more points in the third quarter compared to 16 for the Flying Squadron to officially put the game out of reach.

Michael Hollis led the Eagles in scoring on the night with 23 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc, thanks to assists from Zack Alford and Iyan Hinkle.

“He (Hollis) benefited greatly off Zack and Iyan,” Carroll said. “They attacked the gaps really well. It caused the zone to collapse and they kicked it out to Mike. Mike had a lot of open baskets. He shot the ball really well, but a lot of it came from both of our guards.”

Caleb Dawson finished second with 10 points and Brock Snyder finished with nine. In all 11 of the 12 players on the Eagles roster scored on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s good to have them all involved,” Carroll said. “It puts more responsibility on them individually. Anytime you can get them in and work hard and get some game speed it will always benefit later on.”

The Eagles will be back in action again this afternoon when they host Opp beginning at 4:30 p.m.