Coming off Fulton's championship win at the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament last Saturday night, head coach Ryan Shaw wasn't especially worried about his Hornets easing up.
"We've seen the other end of success the last couple years while we've been building this group up," Shaw said. "I think they enjoy the fruits of their labor too much to let down at this point.
"I mean, they really want to go out and put teams away and win."
Fulton accomplished both of those objectives in Tuesday night's home opener, leaving little doubt in a 73-41 romp over the Owensville Dutchmen at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
After the two teams traded the lead in the game's opening minutes, Fulton grabbed a 13-10 edge on junior guard Kalin Mitchell's 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter. The Hornets concluded the first quarter on a 6-2 run, capped off by a crowd-pleasing dunk from senior forward Austin Wilson with :50.2 left to establish a 19-12 advantage.
The Hornets (4-0) did much of the same in the second quarter to stretch their lead. After Dutchmen sophomore guard Logan Moritz scored the period's first basket at the 7:11 mark, Owensville went without a point over the next 3:17.
After allowing the Dutchmen some early scoring success, Fulton quickened the pace with full-court pressure defense that frazzled Owensville.
"(The Dutchmen) are young and we wanted to get them in a hurry and it took us a while to get them in a hurry," Shaw said. "They did a good job protecting the ball and we didn't do a real good job in the halfcourt finishing at the rim, but we got rolling there."
Wilson - who scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the second quarter - connected from 3-point range with 5:50 remaining in the half to widen the Hornets' lead to 24-14.
Senior forward Devin Gibson followed up with an offensive rebound and putback on Fulton's next possession to force an Owensville timeout. Senior guard Ricky Dawson then completed three-point play to extend Fulton's lead to 29-14 at the 4:16 mark.
Moritz stopped Owensville's scoreless streak by hitting the first of two free throws with 3:54 left, but the Hornets' rout was already on.
Dawson pushed Fulton's cushion to 38-15 with a pair of free throws with 3:05 left.
"We've really worked on not necessarily taking the first shot, but taking the best shot," Shaw said. "Getting a couple of penetrating looks at the basket before we kick it out and shoot, instead of just coming down and throwing it in the corner and shooting it right away."
The Hornets marched into halftime with a 46-23 edge and lengthened the lead to as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter.
Dawson tallied 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, while Gibson supplied nine points and team-high seven rebounds. The Hornets shot 50 percent as a team (23-of-46), including 55 percent (6-of-11) from behind the arc.
Fulton handed out a season-high 15 assists, while outrebounding the Dutchmen 37-20.
The Hornets' defense - in what Shaw called their best performance of the young season - limited Owensville to 33-percent shooting (12-of-36) and forced 20 turnovers.
"They did a good job of running some of their stuff, but we were able to disrupt some of the things they wanted to do," Shaw said.
Moritz led the Dutchmen with 14 points, while junior forward Matt Amptman scored eight and had a team-high seven rebounds.
Fulton opened its junior varsity season with a 55-22 triumph. Freshman forward Cameron Vaughn led the Hornets with 13 points and sophomore guard Jared Peery added 12.
Fulton remains at home for its North Central Missouri Conference opener against the Marshall Owls at 6 p.m. Friday.