PLAIN CITY -- The Silver Wolves had a few pre-game jitters.
They admitted as much.
Once senior center Jake Nish scored the first point of the game, everything clicked for the Fremont High School boys basketball team.
Sophomore forward Brock Smith scored 16 points and Nish added 15 as the Region 1 co-champion Silver Wolves opened up the state 5-A playoffs with a 62-43 runaway over Murray on Tuesday night in the Wolf Den.
"We were a little too nervous before the game; we had a lot of pre-game jitters," Nish said. "We kept playing defense, kept playing hard, and once we got those first couple of points we were able to get a little run there. Our defense definitely gets our offense going."
Junior guard Patrick Fishburn added 14 points and six assists for Fremont.
Neither the Spartans nor the Wolves were able to get on the scoreboard prior to Nish's free throw at the 5:26 mark of the first quarter, with Fremont ripping off eight straight points once it finally broke the ice.
Senior guard Corey Craynor splashed in one of his three 3-pointers with 42 seconds to go in the opening period to make it 17-7 and the game was never in single digits again.
"I was pretty pleased with our first half," Fremont coach Corey Melaney said. "We played pretty good defense and did a good job finding shots."
Fremont's shooting was sizzling in the first half, knocking down 15-of-25 (60 percent) from the floor. The Wolves, riding the low post presence of Nish and Smith, owned Murray inside, outscoring the Spartans 26-10 in the paint in the opening half.
"I think getting the ball inside is key for us," Nish said. "It helps open things up."
The Silver Wolves built their lead to 18 at halftime, with the Spartans opening the second half on an 7-0 surge to cut the lead to 11. Fremont, however, quickly recovered and cruised the finish line of its 20th win of the season, the first time the Silver Wolves have reached that win plateau since the 2004-05 state 5-A title winning season.
"We like to get out early in the half and score points, and that didn't happen, so that was a little disappointing," Melaney said. "Give Murray credit though. They came out and battled us."
Fremont has virtually no time to celebrate its first-round win, with the Silver Wolves set to face Region 3 champion Bingham (21-1) in tonight's 7:15 p.m. quarterfinal round matchup at the Dee Events Center.
"We're ready for whoever we play," said Nish, whose 20-2 Silver Wolves suffered one of those losses to the Miners on Dec. 8 in West Jordan. "It'll be nice to have a good crowd playing close to home."
Added Melaney: "It's going to be tough; they're a talented team. We're a much better team now than we were when we played them."
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