GRAHAMSVILLE — Tri-Valley continued their strong start to the season on Wednesday night as they hosted the Eldred Yellowjackets for a non-league contest. Eldred, who has only played seven games at this point in the year due to weather, showed a lot of fight but ultimately came up short 52-36 as the Bears secured their ninth win compared to only four losses.

Tri-Valley jumped ahead early, settling into their offense and forcing turnovers in bunches as they jumped out to a 19-7 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Misha Khodakovski netted eight of his game-high 21 in the first quarter as the Bears started rolling early.

James Deyermond led Eldred with all seven of the Yellowjackets’ first quarter points.

The Bears, despite being outpaced 11-10 in the second quarter, were able to keep control of the game throughout the first half as they led 29-18 by halftime.

Tri-Valley opened on a 6-2 run in the third quarter after Eldred switched from a zone defense to man-to-man, which led to a Yellowjackets timeout with 4:21 to play in the third.

Despite the defensive adjustment, Tri-Valley was able to power through and earn 15 points in the third, while only allowing four to Eldred as the Bears extended their lead to 22 by the end of the third quarter.

Eldred got their offense going in the fourth quarter, but it was a little too late. The Yellowjackets cut the deficit in half in the fourth quarter after a 14-3 run, but Tri-Valley scored the final five points to take the 52-36 win.

“We had opportunities in the first half, but turnovers made it tough for us,” Coach Bill Furler said. “Tri-Valley was the better team tonight. You can’t turn the ball over 24 times and expect to win.”

“Our defense has been our main focus all season,” Coach Kevin Delaney said after the win. “We started a bit rusty after not having a lot of practices over the last week, but we were able to get the win and put ourselves in a good spot to make the playoffs with a bunch of league games coming up.”

The Tri-Valley game served as a warm-up for Eldred who hosted the Livingston Manor Wildcats on Thursday night for a league matchup.

Tri-Valley is on the road against Chester tonight and will look to get their third league win and tenth win overall.