Staff photo / Brian Yauger Kennedy’s Quinn Meola drives into the paint during the Eagles’ win over Badger on Wednesday.

WARREN — After a Kennedy underperformance in a victory over Boardman last week, Eagles coach Mark Komlanc knew he needed more from his team.

Over the next few days, that message was ground into the team’s brain leading up to the battle between two of Trumbull County’s best.

Komlanc’s message resonated.

The Eagles were firing on all cylinders Wednesday as they opened the new year with a 78-41 victory over Badger.

“I thought tonight you saw how good we could be when we moved the basketball, and they were making an effort to make an extra pass and that is when we’re tough to guard,” Komlanc said. “We’re already pretty good. If we want to try and go one-on-one, yes (we’re good). But when we move the ball like that, it’s almost impossible to guard us.

“I hope that this, you know, lights that fire back up for them and we continue to do that. We have Lake Center Christian on Friday and they’re another very good team and tonight was just kind of a perfect storm. Badger came in with a good record, and I was upset after our last game, so I think the kids got a little bit of their frustration out today from probably being mad at me, but I’ll take that.”

Kennedy nearly surpassed its Friday effort against Boardman (57 points) in the first half on Wednesday, falling six points short.

Four players for the Eagles surpassed the double-figure mark, with Michael Condoleon leading the way with 21 points. Nico Ciminero (18), Jaden Rishel (16) and Nick Ryan (16), each hit the mark as well.

Badger’s Duncan Moy posted a game-high on the night, scoring 26 of the team’s 41 points.

“They’re very good,” Braves coach Josh Upshire said. “They’re well-coached. I told our guys sitting on the bench in the second quarter to just close their eyes and listen to (Kennedy). They talk so much on offense, they know each other, where each other are. That’s just a quality basketball team. It’s good to face teams like this, it’s a program that’s where you want to be. You’re going to face teams like that in a district and regional so it’s good to come out here and see where you are.”

After seeing what lies ahead, Upshire is hoping his team can rise to the occasion next time, and that starts with physicality.

“That’s grown man basketball right there,” Upshire said. “You hope you come out, we have another tough one on Friday night, and we come out a little more physical than we started tonight. I thought we got a little more physical in the second half, but it was just too far out of reach at that point. Overall, the physicalness. I hope we take away how physical they were, and hopefully we’re ready to because Bristol is going to be the same way with us and we’re going to have to be able to handle that.”

The Braves are on the road at Bristol on Friday.

While this game could be the lighting of the fuse Komlanc was searching for, he knows that things could stall just as quickly. It’s on them as coaches to keep the foot on the gas.

“They’re teenage kids. The fire is here tonight, but then they’ve got to get up and go to school tomorrow. My job and our coaching staff’s job is to make sure that we keep reminding them of how good they could be, and that they need to continue to try and get better,” Komlanc said. “Tonight was just the tip of it. We could be much, much better. And they know that. That’s our job. I’m hoping Friday is another good showing, but like I said, they’re teenagers, you never know what’s going to happen.

“We’ll keep our foot on them and keep pushing them to get to their best. They want it, they ask for it, so we give it to them.”

Tipoff against Lake Center Christian is set for 7 p.m. in Hartville.

byauger@tribtoday.com