After winning the regular reason and Three Rivers Conference tournament last week — a span of three games in five days — Red Springs’ starters needed rest in Monday’s 1A playoff opener.

Luckily for head coach Glenn Patterson Sr., his first team was able to relax and then some.

Sparked by a transition offense that went up-and-down the floor with relative ease, Red Springs blitzed Heide Trask, 81-42, in the first round of the 1A East sectional playoffs, providing a fitting beginning to the postseason for Robeson County’s top boys basketball team.

In their widest win of the season, all 15 players scored for the Red Devils (18-8) as multiple stretches of fast-break highlights ignited a squad that has won 10 straight games.

“Offense wins games, but defense wins championships,” Red Springs coach Glenn Patterson Sr. said. “If we’re going to win this thing, we have to be able to distance ourselves from our opponents. I thought we did a phenomenal job of that tonight.”

Red Springs will be back at home Wednesday, battling Ayden-Grifton in the 1A second round.

Glenn Patterson Jr. capped a 14-0 run for the Red Devils at the 5:21 mark of the second quarter, widening Red Springs’ lead to 29-4. The score was 35-5 before Patterson Sr. called for a mass substitution with 3:26 remaining in the first half. After that, Red Springs’ starters played just three minutes in the third quarter, outscoring the Titans 16-2 over that stretch.

“We practiced hard on Saturday and our backups knew they would play tonight,” Patterson Sr. said. “I told our guys not to eat too much during the (pre-game) meal because they would get a lot of minutes.”

Red Springs grabbed its largest lead of the game at 56-15 in the third quarter after consecutive dunks from Larry Brown Jr. Michael Maynor scored a game-high 19 for the Red Devils, while Brown Jr. added 14 and Brandon Klingenschmidt netted 10 in extended action off the bench.

In all, non-starters scored a season-high 39 points for Red Springs, giving Patterson Sr. a chance to rotate his lineup throughout the contest. Joshua Jones grabbed 10 rebounds, including seven in the third quarter, and Kendall McDowell scored six points in relief.

“We don’t have a drop off from our first to our second team,” Patterson Sr. said. “All of our guys are talented.”