SARATOGA -- West Valley men's basketball used a dominant defensive first half and a near-perfect offensive second half to take down the Lemoore College Golden Eagles, 83-65.

After opening with a southern California road trip that included two top-15 teams, the Vikings (3-1) returned home to take on the Eagles (1-2) coming off a neutral-site split of their own.

"I was happy with our performance," said head coach Danny Yoshikawa. "I don't think we're anywhere close to where we need to be or where we're going to be. I'm just looking at it from one game to another. 'Are we getting better at the things that we're asking our guys to do?' And we're definitely getting better, so from the last time [we played at home] against Compton, our ball movement was a lot better. We shot it better. We had more assists. Things are moving. I feel like we were pretty comfortable out there."

West Valley's passing was crisp early on, as freshman guard Cyrus Hassan found veteran Ryan Roth open in the corner twice in the games' first two minutes for threes. Roth, who Coach Yoshikawa applauded for his work ethic in the offseason, finished with three triples, marking back-to-back games he's done so.

The Vikings opened the game with Hassan, Roth, incumbent forward Caleb Asante, freshman Isaiah Ackerman and sophomore Bryce Buchanan in the starting five. After a different starting lineup in the seasons' first three games, the Vikings have opened with those five in back-to-back contests.

But it's not a traditional rotation for the Vikings, who subbed in guard CJ Willenborg and forward William Amoah just minutes in, followed by guard Aaron Biebel in the next rotation.

"We're trying to play fast, trying to play hard," said Yoshikawa. "It should be pedal to the medal for three, three and a half, four minutes. We've got thirteen good players, and our top ten are really good. Our guys, they know, they're going to come out. They're not going to play the whole game."

Together, Hassan and Willenborg combined for eight of the teams' first venture into 20-assist territory this season.

"I love coaching [Hassan]," said Yoshikawa. "He's such a smart player, and such a good passer, such a good shooter. He just makes us better. When you have guys like Cyrus and CJ that can pass that well, it makes your entire team better."

Willenborg was terrific. It's been an unusually cold start for him on the scoring side, but he had an early triple to get in rhythm, finishing overall with season-highs in points, rebounds and assists.

"He's on the right track," said Yoshikawa. "CJ is a great player. He's been sidetracked a little bit with some injuries and figuring out what kind of player he needs to be. Starting with San Diego City and following it with this performance tonight -- he's moving in the right direction. He should be, in my opinion, a first-team all-conference guy. He's so smart. He's so intelligent. He understands the game and his passing opens up everything for us. And of course, he can really shoot and he can really score. He's learning to balance that with defense and rebounding."

There are natural growing pains that come from having a team with so much sophomore talent like the Vikings had last year, especially on the offensive end, to one still looking for consistent answers from a young guard group and new pieces in the post.

It was evident in the first half with Asante, who only had two points. He's continued -- and even upped -- his unreal efficiency from his freshman season while taking on a larger scoring load but was timid in the first half, finishing with just two points.

Asante has a target on his back this season. Him and Willenborg are the two leaders that opponents have the most film on, with the most knowledge of their tendencies.

But for West Valley, Asante's quiet start allowed Amoah to dominate on both ends of the floor. He was even involved in the passing game, finishing with three assists.

"The way he played today was exactly what I want to see," said Yoshikawa. "I don't want him just looking to pass. He's such a threat at the rim. But that's where his talent lies, he can pass. That's what makes him really hard to guard. He made some incredible plays tonight with the pass. There's nothing that I'm preaching for him, it's just make the right play."

West Valley hits the road again, heading down to Fresno as a final tune up before taking on No. 1 San Francisco City on the road next Friday.