The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders began the 2010-2011 basketball season Friday night by defeating the Tennessee Temple Crusaders with a score of 90-46.

MTSU took a quick five to nothing lead, but soon after the Crusaders were able to tie the game at 10.

However, with 13:42 left in the first half MTSU began and 10-0 run and never looked back, owning the game from that point on.

By the end of the first half the score was 46-18 in favor of the Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee’s James Washington led all scorers at the half with 14 points and three assists.

Shawn Jones impressed with just eight minutes off the bench in the first half scoring eight points and grabbing three rebounds, but Jones did pick up three quick fouls in his first half minutes.

Tennessee Temple came out with energy in the second half, but was unable to put much of a dent in the Blue Raider lead.

Middle Tennessee cruised through the second half with strong play from starters and an impressive display by the Blue Raider bench.

MTSU’s bench accounted for nearly as much as the entire Tennessee Temple team with 44 Raider points and 29 rebounds. Kyle Hunt led the charge from the bench, putting in 19 strong and recording the game’s only double-double with 17 points and 12 boards.

Washington would finish the game as the top scorer hitting five of his eight three pointers for 21 points, assisting four times and grabbing four rebounds as well.

MTSU’s Trevor Ottley was the only other Blue Raider in double-digit points with 12 and 8 rebounds, leading the starting five in rebounds.

The Raiders dominated the paint, recording 22 more rebounds than their opponents.

“For the first game, I thought we showed a lot of bright sides,” Washington said. “The offensive rebounding was good, we got a lot of stops, we were able to push the ball in transition, and just have to carry all of this over to practice on Sunday.”

Two areas the Raiders will need to see improvement in are three-point and free throw shooting. The Raiders shot 33.3% from behind the arc and only 67.9% from the charity stripe.

Middle Tennessee will have until Wednesday to prepare for their next game when they play UAB at Home. The game will start at 7 PM and will be shown on ESPN3.com.