NEWTON ? Mark Randtke scored 20 points, and Casey Woods added 18 as Veritas Christian jumped to an early lead and routed Syracuse Christian, 75-36, in the first round of the Kansas Christian Athletic Assn. state tournament Thursday.

“The thing we did really well was, we played very good defense and blocked out,” Veritas coach Doug Bennett said. “Our passing was really strong, and we got a lot of easy baskets inside.”

Matt Steinle added eight points for Veritas (8-14), which led 24-8 after the first quarter and 43-13 at halftime.

Veritas will face Newton Christian at 6 tonight in the second round.

Veritas 75, Syracuse 36

Syracuse 8 5 9 14 — 36

Veritas 24 19 19 13 — 75

Syracuse — Peter Gould 16, Luke Bontrager 1, Jerod Newport 4, Jeremiah Jorgenson 6, Josiah Gould 7, Phillip Gould 2.

Veritas — Ezra Brooks 4, Kirk Long 6, Casey Woods 18, Shawn Rebman 3, Matt Steinle 8, Michael Kay 2, Jesse Schultz 5, Israel Bear 9, Mark Randtke 20.