WEST ORANGE – They were down by double digits early, but it did not take long for the West Orange-Stark Mustangs to overcome the Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns in District 24-4A action at Mustang Gym Tuesday night.

The Mustangs watched the Longhorns score the first 10 points of the game. However, riding the hot hand of senior Thomas Wallace and a full-court press that smothered the Longhorns to pieces, the Mustangs finished the game with a 82-27 spurt as they went on to spank the Longhorns 82-37.

Wallace filtered in a game-high 28 points. He buried five three-pointers and ignited a 28-9 Mustang run in the second quarter by scoring 17 of his points in the period and he had three three-pointers in the quarter as WO-S (5-9, 2-1 took command with a 39-24 lead at intermission.

The Longhorns (0-3 in district) committed 12 of their 25 turnovers in the third quarter as they watch WO-S go on a 24-7 tear.

Guard KJ Miller scored seven of his 15 points in the quarter to help expand the Mustang lead to 63-31 after three periods of play.

The Longhorns were simply out of gas in the final eight minutes as the Mustangs went on a 19-6 run to finish off the contest.

The Longhorns, behind Caleb Havard and Devren Clark, scored the game’s first 10 points. Each one of them scored six points in the first eight minutes.

The Mustangs were able to pick up the intensity and scored 11 of the next 16 points to trail just 15-11 entering the second quarter.

The Mustangs finished with a commanding 37-22 rebounding edge.

Mandel Turner-King led WO_S with seven rebounds. Cory Skinner pulled down five boards while Morris Joseph, Nick Peeples and Tariq Riley all had four apiece.

Jalen Mathews and Bretlin White scored seven points apiece for the Mustangs.

Haqvard had 12 points and six rebounds for the Longhorns while Clark had eight points. Post Jordan Johnson contributed eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

WO-S finished with just nine turnovers while nailing 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

The Longhorns went just 5-of-11 from the charity stripe.

The Mustangs return to action Friday when they pay the Bridge City Cardinals a visit.