Groton - If this happened last year, a 24-point lead trimmed to 13 in the fourth quarter, Fitch coach Alick Furtick said his team would have collapsed.

"We're more of a team in every sense of the word," Furtick said of this season, his second coaching the boys' basketball team at his alma mater. "They're doing things together. On the court stuff. Off the court stuff.

"... I was burnt out by this point last year, Dec. 17. Now I have to kick the guys out of the gym at night (for wanting to stay after practice)."

The team leader for the Falcons on opening night Wednesday was senior forward John Floyd, who finished with 31 points, 14 rebounds and five steals in a 74-53 victory over Stonington High School.

Floyd is also a part of Fitch lore for leading a sweep of the high jump this spring to clinch a narrow track and field victory over Ledyard — allowing the Falcons to cap their third straight unbeaten regular season.

The soft-spoken Floyd was joined Wednesday by transfer Eddie Volkerts with 14 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and Ryan Glass, a member of last year's junior varsity team, with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

The Falcons were 8-for-23 from the free throw line and watched as Stonington went 23-for-32 from the line to close the score to 66-53 late, despite playing without juniors Matt Donahue (ankle) and Amadi White, who missed the game due to an undisclosed reason, according to first year coach John Luzzi.

But Fitch scored the final eight points to close out the opener.

The missteps the Falcons made might not be wise to repeat tonight as they meet powerful Ledyard, but it was a good start overall for Furtick's team, which was 8-14 last season.

"We're happy. We all ran our plays ... got the layups," Floyd said. "We fought through. We had composure. We work hard. We don't stop trying."

Stonington's Robert Fry, the point guard, led the team with 24 points, getting out ahead of the Fitch defense several times for either a layup or to draw a foul. Bobby Atkins added 10 points.

Donahue, the Bears' leading scorer, averaged 15.7 points per game last season with 51 3-pointers.

"I would say highly inexperienced," Luzzi said of the team that took the floor against Fitch. "About as inexperienced as you could have for a varsity team. We were undersized. ... I challenged (Fry) tonight. I told him, 'This is your team.'"

Stonington cut it to 13-7 after one quarter on consecutive offensive rebounds and baskets by Atkins and Fry. After Fry scored to start the second quarter, however, pulling the Bears within four, Fitch went on an 18-0 run and did not allow Stonington another field goal until there was 1:08 remaining in the half.

Fitch led 35-17 at halftime and pushed the lead to as much as 45-21 on a third-quarter basket by Floyd.

Furtick took the blame for his team's aggressiveness in sending Stonington to the foul line so often.

"Our guys, including myself, didn't do a good job adjusting to the way the game was being called," Furtick said. "We like to be aggressive and bully teams around."

The Falcons have a freshman at point guard in Eduardo Gonzales, something Furtick said he would have never dared try with last year's senior-oriented team.

"I was the third coach in four years and they didn't want to hear anything from me," said Furtick, a 1997 Fitch graduate who went on to play basketball at Mitchell College and Salve Regina.

"... I would take this group of guys."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday