LOOGOOTEE — The Loogootee Lions are quickly turning the bad memory of last season into a distant recollection.

Barely a month into the 2008-09 season, Loogootee (6-1, 3-0) has already surpassed last season’s win total of four games and climbed to eighth in the Class A poll. And the Lions prepped for Tuesday’s showdown with Class 3A defending state champion Washington by roaring past Blue Chip Conference foe North Knox 66-35 at Jack Butcher Sports Arena on Saturday.

While the final score was in no way deceiving, North Knox (1-5, 0-4) was in the game — for about four minutes. With the score tied 4-4 midway through the first quarter, Loogootee first year coach Mike Wagoner ordered his troops into the Lions’ very effective 1-2-2 halfcourt trap.

And trap Loogootee did, like a pack of hungry Lions devouring a helpless victim. Using the trap to force turnovers and jump start its fast break, Loogootee went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter as the Warriors finished the opening eight minutes with nearly twice as many turnovers — eight — as points as the Lions held 16-6 lead at the break.

Sophomore forward John Baugh scored seven of his game high 20 points for LHS during that run, which continued in the second quarter as the Warriors never could figure out how to beat the Lions’ trap. North Knox finished the first half with 15 turnovers and only 10 points as the Lions fronted 34-10 at the break.

“We just figured if we could come out and dictate the tempo a little bit — I’m sure they wanted to try and slow it down a little bit — but once we went to our trap, and got the ball out and opened it up a little bit, that helped us with our transition game,” said Wagoner. “When Josh Divine with his quickness and Ben Hogan with his long arms come in on the defensive end, it gives us a lift, it gives us a chance to get the ball out (on the break), which we did two or three times there in the first quarter.”

The second half was more of the same as North Knox could never get the Loogootee lead to under 20 points. Wagoner was able to clear his bench with 4:22 left in the final quarter, and the Loogootee lead reached its zenith at 37 points on a basket by reserve Matt Tucker near the 2:00 minute mark.

Patrick Bowling was the only other Lion to reach double figures with 13 points, but fully 12 Lions made it into the scoring column. Tyler Bratton and Brett Mattingly added six points apiece, followed by Tyler Trambaugh with five and four each from Hogan and Divine.

Loogootee will host Class 3A No. 6 Washington on Tuesday looking for its first win over the Hatchets since a 49-46 home win on Dec. 28, 2002. Wagoner says his players will be ready.

“You don’t have to contend with 7-0 (Tyler Zeller) and 6-11 (Seth Coy), and since the Zeller (Cody) boy is hurt, you don’t have to contend with 6-8. But we’ve got to contend with some quickness, some strong players, some guys who really get after you,” said Wagoner. “I told the guys in the locker room, ‘They’re going to be in your face, we have to withstand their pressure.’ Our guys, they don’t get rattled, at least they haven’t yet with pressure from Forest Park and Vincennes Rivet. Hopefully they can withstand Washington’s pressure and play our game. We’re not going to back down. We’ll come out and play hard and see what happens.”

In the JV game, coach Mike Wininger’s team improved to 4-1 with a 40-21 win. Jordan Arvin topped the Lions with 10 points, followed by Ben Hogan with eight.

Tuesday’s game with Washington will begin with the JV contest starting at 6 p.m.