Freshman Russell Barmer came off the bench to score 18 points as the Cathedral Green Wave soundly defeated the Central Panthers of Larto, Louisiana in their home opener 79-25 Friday night at the Cathedral gym.

The game was decided in the first quarter as Cathedral jumped out to a 21-2 lead and never looked back.

&uot;They (Central) had a bunch of young players,&uot; said Cathedral head coach Ken Beesley, Jr. &uot;Russell go to go in when we got the big lead. He shot well tonight.&uot;

&uot;We tried to let everyone play,&uot; he added.

Larry Thomas had 14 points, three rebounds and one steal. Bart Lane had 13 points and seven rebounds, but scored only three points in the second half due to foul trouble.

&uot;Bart and Larry could’ve scored as much as they wanted to tonight,&uot; Beesley said.

Jeremi Hardy and Eric Lee came off the bench and made their presence felt with their defense and rebounding.

Hardy had seven steals, five in the first half alone, to go along with six points and two rebounds. He also hit a three-pointer. Lee had seven rebounds.

&uot;Jeremi’s quick,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;He’s going to be tough.&uot;

Brady Hendrix led Cathedral in rebounds with eight.

Defensively, Cathedral outrebounded Central 46-21 and had a total of 21 steals.

Cathedral built as much as a 32-point lead in the second quarter and took a 43-14 halftime lead.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, Cathedral didn’t let up in the second half as the Green Wave built as much as 56-point lead before Barrett Book nailed a jumper for the final score.

&uot;I told them to quit fast-breaking to keep the score down,&uot; Beesley said.

T.J. Cross led Central (0-1) with nine points and David Scarbrough had five points and six rebounds. Book led the team in rebounds with eight.

Cathedral (1-1) begins District 6-2A play when play at St. Andrews next Tuesday beginning at 6 p.m.