WASHINGTON — The Washington boys basketball team had to wait until the 13th game of the season last year to pick up its only win, but that’s not the case this season, as the Pam Pack overcame an early deficit to defeat Ocracoke, 73-63, on Tuesday in Lane Raper’s debut as Washington’s head coach.

“It’s awesome,” Raper said of getting a win in his debut as coach. “They (the Pam Pack) only had one win last year and we want to build off a new direction this year and starting 1-0 is definitely what we wanted. Ocracoke was a great opponent and that’s what we wanted to see before we have a tough game going to Farmville Central. So it was a good win for us.”

Ocracoke (2-1 1A Atlantic 5 Conference) stormed out of the gates, building an 11-0 lead, thanks to some sharp shooting from 3-point range. But the Pam Pack (1-0 2A Eastern Carolina Conference) picked up its intensity and battled back, using its superior quickness and athleticism to hound the Dolphins with a full-court press and constantly looking to quickly break upcourt after defensive rebounds and forcing turnovers. By the time the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the first half, Washington led 31-25.

The Pam Pack’s new coach was pleased the resilience his team displayed in its response to going down by double digits so early in the game.

“It’s great because in practice, I’ve been worried about that because we’re kind of easy on each other,” Raper said. “But then once they got that different opponent in front of them, they really picked it up and really picked up the intensity.”

Paced by Jamauri Bryant, Jeremee Bryant, Omarion Blount and Kash Godley, who scored 16, 15, 15 and 11 points, respectively, Washington pulled ahead in the third quarter to establish a double-digit lead of its own.

What really made the difference was the Pam Pack’s dominance on the boards, especially its ability to snag multiple offensive rebounds on the same possession and score second-chance points. Despite being undersized compared to Ocracoke, which had eight players listed at least 6 feet tall, compared to Washington’s five, and some Dolphins as tall as 6 foot 6 and 6 foot 10, the two Bryants, as well as Justin Powell and Uriah Lawrence fought hard to track down rebounds.

Raper said his team’s rebounding supremacy was pivotal in winning the game.

“They had the height advantage, but we were working harder to get position on them,” Raper said. “And that’s what we have to do every game because most games we are a small team, we’re a quick team and as long as we work hard and get our position for that rebound, that’s going to help us dramatically.”

Washington’s win might’ve been by an even larger margin, if not for some wayward shooting at the charity stripe. Seeing that the Pam Pack wasn’t hitting its free throws on the night, the Dolphins resorted to intentionally fouling Washington with three minutes still left in the game. But the combination of solid defense and hitting just enough free throws enabled the Pam Pack to come away with the 10-point win.

Regardless of the victory, Raper knows it is something his team must improve upon.

“It is a worry,” Raper said. “Honestly, I wish we could practice right after this, since it’s so early. I wish we could roll out some basketballs and shoot because stat-wise, we missed about 20 in the last three minutes.”