After a long stretch of road games to open the season, Sicily Island High School returned home Wednesday night to give Tiger fans just what they wanted.

Sicily Island used fast breaks and communication to defeat Delta Charter in its first game of its home tournament, 70-41.

“Our first 12 games were all on the road. They finally got a chance to play in front of their crowd,” Sicily Island coach Curtis Shavers said. “They didn’t want to embarrass themselves.”

Delta Charter scored first and the game was tied midway through the first quarter, 5-5. But, the Tigers flipped a switch tossing the ball down court to go on a 10-1 run in the next minute and a half.

Sicily Island pulled out for a 17-8 lead by the end of the first period.

“We had been playing some terrible basketball,” Shavers said. “There was no team concept and we would fall behind early and lose it in the end. There was a better effort tonight than what they had been doing the previous four or five games. They figured it out some way.”

While Shavers said his team seemed to be on the road to recovery, Storm coach Ronald Ellis couldn’t say the same about Delta Charter.

“I told them they could have stayed at home,” he said. “It was horrible effort. I though it was going to be good, but the second half was pathetic. It wasn’t there at all.”

Delta Charter had trouble rebounding, giving the Tigers multiple opportunities on missed shots while rushing shots on its own side of the court.

Sicily Island was also able to find open looks, sinking five 3-pointers in the win.

“I think toward the end I thought they did a better job of passing and moving the ball,” Shavers said.

Tyreke Tolliver led the Tigers with a game-high 22 points as one of eight scorers for Sicily Island. Landrell James added 11 points, while Keonte Dunbar and Landrae James both had 10.

While Ellis wasn’t pleased with how Delta Charter performed, he added it’s bound to happen sometime.

Fabiyon Kelly scored 17 points to lead the Storm, while Kavarius Whitehead added 12 of his own.

“It’s rough because there’s not too much to talk about,” Ellis said. “They won’t tell what it is, but all I can do is try to motivate them to bounce back and play. They know, but you never can tell.”

Shavers, on the other hand, hopes to bring the Tigers’ upward swing into the remainder of this week’s tournament and onward.

Sicily Island (7-6) is scheduled to play Block at 6:20 p.m. today. Delta Charter (6-11) will face Franklin Parish at 3:40 p.m.

“We will go on from here and see what happens,” Shavers said. “We are trying to get it back together.”