BERNIE -- It took Levi Woods a little while to get going, but then he couldn't be stopped.
Puxico's senior point guard finished with 38 points without scoring in the first 10 minutes of play to lead the No. 4 Indians in a 75-61 win over fifth-seeded Twin Rivers in the opening round of the Bernie Invitational on Monday.
"My teammates got me the ball and got me some good looks and coach drew up some good plays, so it was all on them," Woods said.
Woods, as well as the entire Puxico offense was quiet early. The Royals (0-1) threw some zone defenses at the Indians (1-1) early that Puxico hadn't prepared for.
"We got into a little foul trouble it felt like. We've got a few guys who are still learning all the rotations," Twin Rivers coach Seth McBroom said. "At first we were pretty sharp in communicating, had active hands, and then we missed a few rotations and they went on a nice little run at the end of the half.
"You have to win the last 2 minutes of every quarter and we didn't tonight."
Midway through the first quarter, the Royals were up 8-2 thanks to four points each from Zach Hargraves and Hayden Thomas.
"They were mixing it up. Coach McBroom is a great coach, he's good at that," Puxico coach Nathan Martin said.
The Indians tied it up for the first time at 13 after Dalton King scored to open the second quarter.
Woods got his first bucket with 5:36 left in the second quarter and scored seven straight points for Puxico. He had 13 by halftime as Puxico closed the half with a 15-2 run to the Indians ahead by 10 at the break.
"We went to our press. We didn't get many turnovers out of it, but we were able to slow them down, make them think about bringing the ball up, and that's a big part of it," Martin said. "We've got quick kids and we've got kids who can see the floor well, so if we are able to get into a rhythm and get into transition we'll be tough to beat."
Woods poured in 17 of Puxico's 20 points in the third quarter and out-scoring the entire Twin Rivers lineup in the frame.
"We needed quicker ball reversals," Martin said. "At halftime I told the boys, 'Fellas, Levi does not need much room or space or time to get the ball off. Quick ball reversals, give it up, be unselfish.' It was a rhythm, we were looking for him more on ball reversals and he was able to step into his shot and get into a rhythm and that was a big part of it."
Woods, who scored a career-high 42 points last season, sank a 3 on three straight possessions and scored 11 points in less than 2 minutes.
Puxico went from being down by three with 4:36 left in the second quarter to up by 23 at the end of the third quarter.
"I would say we got down a little bit at half, rough second quarter. We come out and it felt like we had some decent energy, but any time we got a stop or two stops in a row, or made two baskets in a row, it seemed like the ball would bounce in their hands," McBroom said.
The Indians led by as much as 27 in the fourth before Twin Rivers' late push got the Royals as close as 12 points.
Dalton King added 17 points for Puxico, including seven in the first quarter.
Jamie Robards got hot in the second half for Twin Rivers and led the team with 28 points. Robards made seven 3-pointers, five of them after halftime, and had 19 points in the second half.
Thomas finished with 14 points and Hargraves had 10.
Puxico will play top seed Bernie in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. today while Twin Rivers will play No. 8 Holcomb in the consolation bracket at 4 p.m. today.