SMITHS FALLS—Sydenham Golden Eagles opened the Eastern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association double-A basketball tournament with a decisive 56-21 victory over the St. Michael’s Mustangs of Kemptville here Thursday morning.

The Eagles, Kingston Area champions, buried St. Mike’s under a withering defensive display, as the Mustangs didn’t get a basket until the game’s seventh minute, didn’t get their second until 11 minutes had been played and didn’t score in the second half until the 2:20 point in the third quarter.

Sydenham led 33-8 at halftime and scored the first nine points of the second half.

Ben Lusk led the winners with 16 points, as eight different players scored for the Eagles. Tom Withey had 12 points, 10 of them in the second quarter, and Steve Kennedy scored 10. Everyone in the Sydenham lineup played, including Isaac and Will Sanderson, two juniors who have been added for the tournament.

Will Sanderson scored a basket in his senior debut.

There are six teams at the two-day tournament, divided into two pools for round-robin play. Top-seeded Sydenham will play St. Joseph’s of Cornwall, the No. 6 seed, this afternoon at 4 o’clock. The top two teams in each pool will advance to semifinals Friday morning, with the championship game Friday at 3 p.m.

At stake is a berth in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA tournament, March 9-11 in Ottawa.