CARBONDALE – Roaring Fork recovered nicely from a first-quarter hiccup to pound visiting Basalt 81-41 in Tuesday’s Class 3A Western Slope League boys basketball opener.The Longhorns surprised the Carbondale crowd by hanging with the Rams through the opening frame and keeping it within five at 20-15.But basketball-rich Roaring Fork exploded with 25 second-quarter points to take a 45-27 halftime lead.Rams guard Alex Hernandez said Basalt caught him and his teammates a little off guard in the first quarter.It was more of the same in the third quarter, in which Rams guard Matthias Weissl scored the first eight points – six off a pair of 3-pointers – to push the lead to 53-28. Roaring Fork would go on to outscore Basalt 27-5 in the frame and upgrade its advantage from sizable to rout.”We were a little surprised, not worried,” he said. “After the first half, we got together and talked.”Defense is where it all started, said Roaring Fork coach Roger Walters, who’d still like to see his team improve in that area. His team had plenty of time to work on just that with the game in hand.”We just tried to be patient and work on our half-court defense and play more team basketball and take some time off the clock,” the veteran coach said. “On defense, we’ve got to do a better job of stopping penetration. We’ve got to do a better job in the post. We’re close. In the second half we only gave up 14 points.”Weissl poured in a game-high 22 points to lead the Rams (5-1 overall, 1-0 in league). He rounded out a double-double by throwing in 10 assists. Torrey Udall finished with 19 points, Walker Abramovich nine and Hernandez seven. Udall also recorded a double-double, ripping down 13 boards.Connor Rakowski drained six 3-pointers and led the Longhorns (0-5, 0-1) with 22 points. Chaz Capoblanco wrapped the night with seven points and Dean Unglert added six.