Jeffrey Gulley was getting his groove on Tuesday night.

The Central boys basketball forward threw down two monster dunks and posted 20 points and nine boards in leading the Lions to their first win of the season, a 79-56 home romp over a young Bowdon squad.

Central coach Jimmy LeBlanc said starting Gulley along with fellow big man Charlie Bell created an interesting look for the Lions (1-1) in the frontcourt, one he’ll probably continue to use as the season gets deeper.

“I tell you, that was a neat combination playing around with him and Charlie in there at the same time and that was real interesting,” LeBlanc said. “I kind of like that combination in there.”

Bowdon coach Vic Coggins said dealing with that scenario was a tough task for his young team in its season opener.

“They got two kids that play well around the basket,” Coggins said. “We talked about early, trying to limit their touches. Unfortunately, we didn’t do a very good job of that, either.”

Bowdon’s biggest question mark as of now lies in its young backcourt, as only two players have any varsity experience, which showed Tuesday against an athletic Central backcourt.

“Playing quick guards with young guards, we really legitimately had two guards with varsity experience,” Coggins said. “We’re going to have to work through that and later in the season we’re going to be a lot different team.”

Central’s speedy backcourt caused problems for the Red Devils (0-1) for much of the night, as Bowdon never really could get going Tuesday night.

The Lions threw a couple different defensive looks at the Red Devils, which created a number of turnovers or forced tough shots.

“We’ve got a little bit more veteran team and we were just trying to get our kids to play real hard and we did change defenses a lot just to keep them playing hard and our kids really bought into that,” LeBlanc said. “They really did a good job of controlling that with the pressure.”

Central jumped out to an 11-2 lead to open the game before the Red Devils answered with six straight points to close the gap to three.

The Lions then outscored them 23-12 in the second quarter and used a 15-4 run to open the second half to push the lead to 51-26 midway through the third and rolled on from there.

Guard Courtney Farris also reached double figures for the Lions, finishing with 10 points, while fellow guard Jeremy Hicks added nine. Rashad Rowe snared down seven boards from the guard spot.

Sophomore guard Avery Cheeks led Bowdon with 19 points and four rebounds, while junior Etrius Richardson tossed in 10 points and pulled down five rebounds.

Coggins said it will just be a matter of time for his younger players to develop and build some chemistry on the court.

“We’re definitely very young, especially at the guard spot,” Coggins said. “Fortunately, we’ve got some very good young players that we’re going to rely on and we’re going to get better with each game.”

LeBlanc said getting that first win is always crucial and noted that the team is still adjusting to his style of coaching and what he expects from them.

“It definitely helps with confidence, but they’re still real new to me,” LeBlanc said. “They’re getting a feel for how they want to play. It’s getting in the routine of going from one game to the next and them getting ready to play and those kind of things.”