By the time the Effingham County Rebels figured out how to stop the Benedictine Cadets from getting the ball to center Colin Barnes, the damage had long since been done.

Barnes had 19 points against the smaller Rebels, and the Cadets cruised to a 54-42 win over the Rebels on Tuesday night.

“They were big,” Rebels coach Travis Dickey said. “We had a hard time answering them throwing the lob to (Barnes).

Toward the end, we got ourselves in the right spot. We’ve got to be able to adjust quicker than we did.”

The Rebels (1-4) also more than doubled their point total with a big fourth quarter, even with their smaller lineup.

“We played a smaller lineup and they managed to take away the lob,” Dickey said.

Their offense was limited because Perry Herbert, the team’s leading scorer, missed the bus and was suspended for the game.

“Not having him made it hard to produce,” Dickey said.

Effingham County will wrap up a road-heavy schedule to open the season Friday at Screven County. Four of the first six games, the last four, have all been on the road.

“It does make it difficult having to go on the road,” Dickey said. “It changes your routine. You have to ride a bus and play in a hostile environment. But it can work to our advantage. We have more home games on the schedule this year. It’s tougher (playing on the road), but if you play good, fundamental basketball, then it shouldn’t matter quite so much where you play.”