CARY - The Cary High boys basketball team came out firing on all cylinders in its Tri-Nine Conference opener on Tuesday night. The Imps torched Fuquay-Varina from behind the arc, nailing seven of their first eight attempts before holding on for a 65-56 win.

It was an about face from the Imps' previous outing, a 56-36 road loss to Sanderson. On the home rims of Cary, the Imps (1-1, 1-0) could do no wrong, and were especially strong in the first half.

Junior Austin Brannen, senior Lucas Edmisten and senior Amir Hasan each made two 3-pointers, while Colton Lehman added one more to push Cary to a 33-23 halftime lead.

The Imps were 7-of-12 from downtown in the first two quarters.

"It was just the momentum of our first home game, first conference game," Edmisten said. "It's just good to get things started off right, 1-0 in the conference, and get things rolling a little earlier than it was last year."

The next quarter wasn't as kind to Cary, as players saw shots that swished through in the first half, rim out in the second. The Imps were just 2-of-10 in the third quarter, allowing Fuquay to get within seven at one point in the late third quarter.

In the fourth, Cary displayed more patience and discipline on offense, not taking a single 3-point shot while shooting 4-of-7 from the floor. The Imps were 12-of-21 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone as they coasted to victory.

"[Coach Allan Gustafson] wanted us to slow down the momentum and wanted us swing the ball around, slow the clock down, just so we could set up the offense, get it in the post and get and-one's."

Brannen led all scorers with 21 points on the night. Edmisten had 19, while Asan added 11 and Anthony Shelton had eight. Shelton also had five assists for Cary.

Players were certain their season opener was a fluke after a turnaround performance on Monday.

"Sanderson, they got lucky. We just need to keep this up," Brannen said.

The Imps were out-rebounded 33-21 by a much taller Fuquay team. However, it wasn't how many rebounds as much as it was when they occurred.

While the Bengals (0-3, 0-1) pulled down rebounds for blocked shots, Cary was coming away with key offensive rebounds on free throw attempts.

When Fuquay did manage to pull down an offensive rebound, it was usually followed by another miss -- and the missed opportunities ended up having a huge role in how the game played out.

"That's our strength, we've got to get it inside. We did a lot better at that tonight than we had in the previous two games," Fuquay coach Randy Barrow said. "I felt good about the way we played, we just gave up some open looks."

Cary excelled in creating turnovers whether it was a full-court press or half-court set. The Bengals ended the game with 22 turnovers. Half of them came on Cary steals.

"We get frantic," Barrow said. "We've been working on being patient on the offensive end and doing what we can, not trying to do too much."

Dominique Byrd, a 6-6 junior forward, led Fuquay in points (15) and rebounds (10). Senior center Isaac Daniel added eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Bengals.

With conference play starting earlier than usual this season, both teams said they had to prepare harder and quicker than in the past.

"We've been practicing harder than we were last year. We're working harder in the gym, weight room, everything," Brannen said. "We're looking good right now."

Cary has conference games scheduled for Wednesday at Apex and on Friday at home against Holly Springs. Fuquay will play host to Panther Creek on Tuesday.