CENTRALIA — It was a good start for the Belleville East Lancers as Malcolm Hill cast aside any doubts about his health and new coach Abel Schrader picked up his first coaching victory.

Hill had 22 points and James White added 18 points as the Lancers opened the 2012 season with a 64-42 win over the Mascoutah Indians on Monday in the Centralia Thanksgiving Tournament.

"It's good to get that under the belt," Schrader said. "I thought our kids played pretty hard."

Hill also had seven rebounds, three assists and three steals as he proved that he was fully recovered from offseason surgery due to rare condition called thoracic outlet syndrome.

"I prepared myself ever since I was cleared to play for this game," Hill said. "It meant a lot of working out before practice, before school. It helped out, and I'm still doing that to get better."

Darreon Reddick also had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Lancers.

"We'll take that every night," Schrader said of having three players in double figures. "I don't know exactly what the final numbers were, but it seemed like a pretty good mix."

Alex King led the Indians with 17 points. Marshall Moore chipped in nine points and four rebounds.

Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.