Ferriday — Huntington didn’t let the resignation of head coach Nicky Peré affect its play in the Hounds’ MPSA Class A District 6 opener against Franklin Academy as the Hounds easily defeated the Cougars 52-30 at home Monday night.

David Boydstun, Huntington’s basketball coach before Peré took over this year, returned to the sidelines to coach the Hounds for their first District 6-A game.

Huntington went on a 7-0 run to open the game, but the offense slowed to a crawl before ending the first quarter up 9-2.

“We got off to a quick start,” Boydstun said. “After that, I didn’t know if either team was going to score a basket.”

Franklin Academy’s offense didn’t score its first basket until 57 seconds left in the first quarter but woke up to stay within seven of the Hounds at the end of the half.

Huntington continued to look sluggish in the third and allowed the Cougars more room to breathe than they should have before finally taking a 20-point lead with 5:34 remaining in the fourth quarter to all but seal the victory.

“It was a good effort from the players,” Boydstun said. “From what I see we have some good athletes. We had trouble from the free-throw line and weren’t moving much on defense, but those are some things we will work on.”

Jeremy Randall led all scorers with 20 points for the Hounds, while teammate Phillip Washington added eight.

The Hounds were without a star player iin Tyler Peré during the contest.

Seth Henderson led Franklin Academy with 10 points.

Huntington girls 44, Franklin Academy 29

The Huntington Lady Hounds also had no problem in their first district game as they defeated the visiting Franklin Lady Cougars 44-29.

Both teams got off to a slow start and played sloppy throughout the first quarter.

Huntington woke up and went on an 11-1 run in the second to take a 23-9 lead at the half.

The Lady Hounds slowed in the third though and missed shots in the paint allowed the Lady Cougars to stay within reach.

Huntington’s interior defense held up though and thwarted any opportunity Franklin had of coming back late in the game.

“We played good defense tonight,” Boydstun said. “The girls shot with confidence and all of them played good.”

Abi Brown led the Lady Hounds with 17 points while Julia Corbett added eight.

Katy Little led Franklin with 15 points while her teammate Mallory Welch scored nine.