MARTINSVILLE – The Jac-Cen-Del Eagles made their first step in a quest for a regional title look pretty easy Saturday afternoon.

The No. 1 ranked Eagles set the tone early and went on to post a 64-43 victory over the Clay City Eels at Martinsville High School.

After trading the first six baskets of the game, the Eagles stormed ahead with 13 unanswered points to take a 19-6 lead.

Gerald Hardesty sparked the Eagles with back-to-back field goals along the baseline and then followed up a Blake Sutton miss to make it a 12-6 lead and forced Clay City head coach Grant McVay to call his first time-out at the 2:24 mark.

A steal and lay-up by Matt Gehl was followed with a 3-pointer from Sutton to put the Eagles in front 13 points. Tim Arnett added to the Clay City frustration with a field goal to extend the margin to 19-6.

Tim Arnett added a three-point play at the end of the quarter to give JCD a commanding 22-8 lead.

The Eels went over four minutes without scoring and were never really in the game from that point.

The up-tempo style of play continued to benefit the Eagles as the second quarter progressed.

After the Eels were able to cut it to 11 points in early stages of the second period, Gehl scored four unanswered points and Trevor Arnett added a basket to put the Eagles back on top 17 points.

The first half closed with coach David Bradshaw’s crew on top 33-17.

Clay City was much better in the third quarter, but was unable to make up much ground. The two teams traded baskets much of the third quarter with the Eagles finally gaining an edged on five consecutive points by Sutton near the four minute mark.

The Eagles led 50-29 and Sutton’s hot hand triggered another Clay City time-out at the 3:59 mark. The third quarter ended with JCD up 54-36.

The Eagles finished with a slight edge in the fourth quarter as well, but it seemed apparent they were settled with winding down the clock in the later stages.

Jac-Cen-Del had four players score in double figures. Gehl led the way with 20 points, including a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line.

Tim Arnett was second on the team with 14 points, while Trevor Arnett and Hardesty each had 11. Sutton’s eight were the only points for the Eagles.

Clay City was led in scoring by Levi Seymour with a solid effort around the basket and 18 points.

The Eagles improved to 22-2 on the season and will face Bethesda Christian in the regional finals.