By Jeff Budlong, Sports Editor

GLENVILLE &8212; Alden-Conger waited a whole year for a chance to pay back Glenville-Emmons for a pair of losses the Wolverines hung on them last season.

The wait was worth it.

Alden-Conger applied relentless pressure and used its up-tempo style to blow away G-E in the second half 71-51.

&8220;Last Thursday, we were slow and sloppy, but tonight they played like they wanted it,&8221; first-year A-C head coach Bill Hintz said. &8220;It is a big game with Glenville and we look forward to it each year. They were thinking about (last year&8217;s losses) the whole time.&8221;

A-C used its fastbreak style to create several easy buckets to open the second half which led to a 16-3 Knight run putting them up 53-28 before Hintz called off his pressure defense over the final 10 minutes of the game.

&8220;When we started running the floor that is when it started to happen,&8221; Hintz said. &8220;That is our game and that is what we have to do. We got some really nice fastbreak layups. Not just one, we got quite a few.&8221;

With Alex Bute running the show the Knights got solid scoring from seniors Ross Hemmingsen and Anthony Wittmer as well as contributions off the bench from Paul Little and Andy Cords.

G-E did not score for the first five minutes of the second half until Jarrad Knutson hit a 3-pointer to stop the Knights&8217; streak.

The Wolverines are breaking in four new starters around Knutson and for much of the night they struggled against an aggressive team in their first game of the season.

The Knights&8217; pressure took G-E out of its game plan early and it never seemed to recover.

&8220;They broke our will right away,&8221; said G-E head coach Dan Fredrickson. &8220;I thought we were prepared for the kind of pressure we were going to see and obviously we weren&8217;t. I have to take that responsibility as a coach and do a better job. This is a game that could have easily been in the 90s.&8221;

Sam Hallman led the Knights with 18 points including four 3-pointers which came in pairs in each half to help spark runs.

&8220;Hallman is a heck of a player and we tried to slow him down but he still put together a good game,&8221; Fredrickson said.

A-C&8217;s offense was the model of balance in the first half with four players scoring seven or more points led by Hemminsen&8217;s 11.

By contrast, G-E had to lean on Knutson but even his shots were not falling on this night. He finished with 24 points but many came with the game well out of reach.

A-C held a 37-25 halftime advantage but it could have been much bigger as the Knights went just 3 of 13 from the free throw line.

&8220;We have 13 days until our next game and we are going to be shooting free throws for a

while,&8221; Hintz said.

G-E would get the lead down to seven on two occasions in the first half but never got the game down to a single possession.

Alden-Conger (2-0) is not back in action until Dec. 14 when it will face Truman in Alden. G-E (0-1) will look for some answers Thursday when it travels to take on Mabel-Canton.