The Bronco boys basketball team opened the 2011-12 season at home Tuesday night by scoring early and often against Eveleth-Gilbert.

Falls led by 38 points at halftime before defeating the Golden Bears, 81-30.

“I really thought our offense looked very good (Tuesday night),” said Broncos head coach Derek Dowty. “I thought we passed the ball very well.

“We were very unselfish. We had 10-foot, wide-open shots and we passed to get layups. I really like watching that on offense. I think it’s going to really help us down the road.”

Five Bronco players ended up in double figures. Freshman Ben Humbert had a game-high 16 points, followed by Forrest Arch with 15, Josh Owen and Gunnar Anderson both with 13 and Andre McMillion with 10.

Falls broke open an early 6-4 lead with a 12-0 scoring run when Eveleth-Gilbert called timeout with 11:29 left in the first half.

The Golden Bears’ Zach Wood then sank a field goal, before the Broncos went on another 12-0 run as Eveleth-Gilbert called another timeout with 8:21 remaining before halftime.

“We started off making a lot of short baskets — a lot of layups, a lot of short jumpers — and that kind of gets us going,” Dowty said. “That leads to the outside shots, because everyone’s got to pack it in on us, and then we get some wide-open looks (at the basket).”

The Broncos closed out the first half with a flurry of baskets, which included five consecutive field goals from Humbert. Falls led 55-17 at halftime.

Despite having to replace several players lost from graduation, Dowty said the Broncos played well on the defensive side of the ball.

“We lost a lot of intense players from last year that brought a lot of defensive pressure, and I was a little bit worried about that (Tuesday),” he said. “But we came out from the very beginning and played pretty intense, and I thought we got a couple of really good steals that kind of built us up for the rest of the game.”

I. Falls 81, E-G 30

E-G 17 13 — 30

I. Falls 55 26 — 81

I. Falls: Andre McMillion 10, Jason Pumper 4, Alex Hauke 2, John Bartkowski 2, Gunnar Anderson 13, Ben Humbert 16, Ryan Kilbride 6, Josh Owen 13, Forest Arch 15. 3-pointers: McMillion 3, Anderson 3, Owen. Free throws: 10-15. Fouls: 7.