MARK NANCE/For The Express Jersey Shore's Khan McCray (2) shoots around South Williamsport's Bobby Regan (0) in the first quarter.

Entering Monday night’s showdown against Lewisburg, Jersey Shore coach Jon Boob had no idea how the game would play out.

But he could make one guarantee. He knew his team would empty their tanks pursuing victory.

That has been this team’s calling card the last two years. Good coaching, talent and depth have played vital roles in Jersey Shore roaring back to life, winning more games last year (13) than the three previous combined. While all those qualities are vital, the foundation has been built upon relentless effort.

That was the case again during Jersey Shore’s 2-0 start. A night after opening the season with a 75-34 win against CMVT, the Bulldogs erased a three-point second quarter deficit and defeated South Williamsport, 72-44. They and Lewisburg, both Class AAAA playoff teams a year ago, entered Monday’s game 2-0 with the result coming after press time.

“That’s the one thing about them: they always play hard. They never say no to anything,” Boob said after the South win. “They dive on every loose ball. They do things that, as a coach, you can’t teach. I’d love to take credit for it, but it’s just something those guys have that makes us a different team than a lot of teams. We just play so hard all of the time without me having to beg for it.”

Jersey Shore made an 11-win improvement a year ago, pushing eventual Class AAAA district champion Danville hard in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs are eager to try and take another big step forward and displayed quite an arsenal against South.

Boob used nine players throughout the game and all nine made big impacts. The bench collected 17 points and 16 rebounds and reserve Khani McCray led the team in scoring through two games. Jersey Shore does not possess much height but their fundamentals and tenacity helped it out-rebound South, 34-17.

Jacob Lorson scored 19 points, Landon Lathan 12 and Tucker Hanna 11. That made it five Bulldogs who reached double figures in the first two games. No one really knows where the production will come from, but Jersey Shore has enough weapons that it understands it is coming from somewhere.

“We’re rotating our starters because we have so many I guess is the right answer. We’re deep,” Boob said. “A lot of guys are similar and have similar skill-sets, so we can interchange them without much of a drop-off at all.”

The Class AAAA field is a lot like Jersey Shore. It is strong, deep and well-rounded. The Bulldogs became the new kid on the block a year ago, but they are eager to prove they are setting up a consistent residence there. Time will tell how it plays out, but Jersey Shore certainly looks capable.

“That was a good start,” Boob said. “I know it’s early in the year, but I told them if we maintain what we did (against South) and have the same energy and output going into playoffs, we can compete with anyone in districts.”