AYDEN — Derrick Atkinson, who previously has coached middle school and junior varsity boys basketball at Community Christian School, made his varsity debut Thursday and the Cyclones made it a successful one with a 59-24 romp over host Pitt County Pacers, a home school team.

Tavares Williams had 14 points and six rebounds while Camden Harold scored 11 points for the Cyclones in their season opener. Bryce Pittman added eight points and Ayden Smith chipped in six while Jared Kovach contributed five points and five steals and Rylan Gay had five points and three steals. CCS was just 5 of 17 from 3-point range, but Atkinson was delighted with the outcome after less than two weeks of practice.

“I feel good about the team,” he said. “A couple of our players have played with me in the past. We’ve got seven returning players and five are seniors so they’ve been playing together for a while and that made it lots easier.”

The Cyclones will face another home school team in DASH on Monday at the Peace Church gym.