Hampshire’s boys basketball team scored the first 7 points and led 13-7 after 1 quarter of play Saturday night.That’s about the only good news the Whip-Purs could take from the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division game at Crystal Lake Central.

The host Tigers out scored Hampshire 58-20 in the final 3 quarters in cruising to an easy 65-33 victory.

“I am really disappointed with the way we reacted when things went bad,” said Hampshire coach Bob Barnett. “Instead of relying on each other we relied on individual play. We went 1-on-1 too much. But give (Central) credit. They are the best team we have faced this season.”

Making their first 3 shots of the game including a long 3-pointer from Brandon Waterworth, the Whip-Purs started the game on a 7-0 run.

A 15-footer by Tyler Crater at the buzzer gave Hampshire (12-3, 1-1) a 6-point advantage after 8 minutes.

The host Tigers started to taking control of the game by starting the second quarter on a 12-4 run. A putback by Kyle Fleck, who didn’t start because he was late for a practice, gave Central the lead for good, 19-17, with 4:22 left before half.Led by 12 points from Fleck, the Tigers outscored Hampshire 24-6 in the second quarter and led 31-19 at halftime.

Hampshire couldn’t cut into the Tigers’ deficit in the second half.

With Fleck, Corban Murphy and Jake Van Skyoc each scoring layups the Tigers scored the first 6 points of the second half to take a 37-19 lead with 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Central’s biggest lead was 34, 62-28, after a 3-pointer by Kevin Peisker with 4:08 left in the game.

Fleck, who played less than 3 quarters, paced the Tigers with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.

“I wasn’t going to pout because I didn’t start,” said Fleck. “I wanted to come in the game and give us energy. We started playing better defense which got our offense started.”

Murphy scored 13 and VanSkyoc 11 for the winners.

“We come out very lackadaisical and with no energy,” said Central coach Rich Czeslawski. “I’m not sure why that happened because we knew Hampshire is an excellent team. We got going with our defense which got our offense going. We got easy shots and really played well the last three quarters.”

Crater was the lone Whip-Pur in double figures with 10 points while Shane Hernandez scored 8 with 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.