Veritas Christian’s boys basketball team can’t help but win when it makes most of its shots and commits few defensive mistakes like it did Friday night in a 69-45 victory over Flint Hills.

But even with four players scoring in double figures, Veritas coach Doug Bennett gave most of the credit to his team’s defensive performance.

“It was nice to see us get back on track defensively,” Bennett said, “because that’s how were going to create our points off of forced turnovers.”

Veritas forced enough turnovers to create all the offense it needed in the first half with a half-court press. The Eagles goaded the Warriors into 17 first-half turnovers and went to the break with a 40-15 advantage on the way to their first conference victory.

In contrast, Veritas took care of the ball, only giving it away six times, and was able to take good shots most of the game — especially guard Noah Barclay, who led all scorers with 17 points. He only missed one shot all night and was 3-for-3 from behind the three-point line.

Bennett said Barclay’s performance was the result of an effort to get him to shoot more around the perimeter.

“We’ve been on him at practice the last couple of weeks talking to him about shooting that shot more,” Bennett said.

Flint Hills struggled to create decent scoring opportunities against Veritas’ physical defense.

Flint Hills assistant coach Jeff Coverdale said his team couldn’t find a way around Veritas’ press.

“We were in the game for the first half of the first quarter, and then their physicalness and athleticism took over, and we didn’t adjust,” Coverdale said.

The Warriors scored more in the second half, mostly behind the post play of Ben Couchman, who forced his way inside for nine points after the half. But Flint Hills could not manage enough defensive stops to reel Veritas back after a slow first half.

“We came out in the third quarter with confidence, and we were able to execute and run our offense,” Coverdale said. “We were able to play a tough defense, but we were not prepared physically to play this game.”

Bennett was prepared to send his team out to play a physical game because he believed that his could win in the conference on the strength of its defense rather than its offense.

“We focus on defense because we feel pretty confident that our offense will be there,” Bennett said. “We shouldn’t have much trouble scoring, so if we can just get a defensive effort every night, that’s what’s going to create success for us.”

The Veritas girls didn’t get as much success offensively or defensively as they fell to Flint Hills, 34-19. Forward Jenna Pash led the Eagles with nine points, but the next highest scorer was forward Chantal Carlton with four.