WEBSTER CITY – Alec Fuhs brought an improved jump shot to the WCHS gymnasium Friday night. And what did his twin brother Avery bring? The same silky smooth long range touch that he displayed night after night a season ago.

They’re seniors now. Leaders on the hardwood. And if one night is any indication of what is to come, look out.

Webster City’s senior twins put on an offensive show and combined to score 41 points to lead the Lynx to a hard-fought season-opening win over North Central Conference foe Fort Dodge St. Edmond, 55-52, in front of an attentive crowd.

Avery Fuhs was nearly unstoppable on his way to a game-high 26 points. The shooting guard drained 5 of 6 3-pointers and 10 of 14 shots overall. About the only thing he didn’t master was the foul shot; he was successful on just 1 of 3 attempts.

Alec Fuhs had that category covered though. He drained his first six free throw attempts and knocked down three triples en route to 15 points.

Were the third-year starters a surprise? Hardly. Actually, they did exactly what Lynx head coach Marty McKinney expected.

“They’re seniors now. This is their third year starting and they’re multi-sport athletes,” McKinney said. “They’ve been through this before, so we’re going to lean on them all year.”

Alec Fuhs was content, but not particularly elated with his performance, which included three rebounds.

“No matter what, a win is a win,” he said. “But we have a lot of things to improve on. We relied on the 3 too much and weren’t getting stops at the end.”

Alec Fuhs also wasn’t enamored with his defensive effort. He got the assignment on Gaels’ guard Charlie Doyle, who ripped off five treys and scored 17 points. Doyle canned four 3’s in the third quarter, the final one coming on a 22-foot runner at the buzzer to pull St. Edmond (0-1, 0-1 NCC) within 47-42.

“I’ll take ownership on that,” Alec Fuhs said. “I shouldn’t have let Charlie Doyle score 12 points in the third.”

Harrison Mayer led St. Edmond with 24 points, most of them coming from inside the paint.

Colt Richardson notched eight points for WCHS (1-0, 1-0 NCC). Sean Vogelbacher and Landon Daniels had three points apiece. Daniels spent most of the game feeding the Fuhs boys, which led to nine assists.

McKinney says his players that don’t look exactly alike will have to continue to increase their scoring.

“Landon had a great game with nine assists, but we’ve got to have him scoring points,” McKinney said. “We’ve got to get production out of everybody. We can’t rely on (the Fuhs twins) to score 40 every night.”

St. Edmond jumped out to an early 12-6 lead before WCHS ended the first period on a 10-2 spurt – all 10 of them coming from Fuhs and Fuhs – to take a 16-14 lead.

The Lynx pushed their edge to as many as 10 points in the second and took a nine-point cushion, 32-23, into the break.

A traditional 3-point play from Avery Fuhs on the opening possession of the fourth quarter upped the Lynx margin to 50-42, but the Gaels responded with five straight points, highlighted by a 3 from Colin Flattery, to close to within three.

An Alec Fuhs triple, followed by a bucket from close range by Avery Fuhs, bumped the lead back up to eight, 55-47, with 1:35 remaining.

WCHS didn’t make things easy on itself by missing the front end of a 1-and-1 on back-to-back possessions, and St. Edmond took advantage. Mayer tossed in a short jumper to make it a one-possession game with just under 10 seconds remaining, but WCHS was able to throw the ball down the court to a wide open Connor Foster, who dribbled out the remaining time.

“We didn’t help ourselves out at the end at all,” McKinney said. “But we’ll take the win. We knew coming in it was going to be a battle because it is every time you play (St. Edmond). It’s a rivalry and they always play hard.”

WCHS shot 56 percent overall (19 of 34) and a blistering 60 percent from behind the arc (9 of 15). Daniels’ lone bucket came on a 3-ball from the corner late in the third quarter.

The Lynx will be back at home this evening to take on Pocahontas Area.