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Linsly pulls away from Weir High  

WEIRTON — The Weir boys basketball team was looking to get off to a good start against Linsly.

Unfortunately for the Red Riders, that didn’t happen as the Cadets scored the first nine points of the game en route to a victory Tuesday night on Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Fieldhouse.

“They jumped on us early,” Weir (2-6) head coach Anthony Santangelo said. “We got back into it after we called timeout. We made some shots. We got into our press, and we made some steals.

“I thought our first half was OK. It was 15 and then it was 20. We had some turnovers, and they got downhill too much. They got layup after layup. They got some offensive rebounds, and we didn’t get back.”

The visitors took a 9-0 lead forcing Santangelo to call a timeout with 5:06 left to play in the first quarter. The hosts responded with five points, but the boys from Ohio County countered and built a double-digit advantage before taking a 23-12 lead into the second.

A big second quarter enabled the Orange-and-Black to break the game open. After leading by more than 10 points in the first, the victors increased their advantage to more than 20 points in the second as they took a 45-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“They leaked out,” Santangelo said. “They got some defensive rebounds. They outran us. That is unnecessary. No one should outrun us. In the first half, they killed us with offensive rebounds. They spread us out, and their bigs beat us up.”

The Red-and-Black cut their deficit down to 17 at one point in the third, however, the boys in black responded and extended their advantage to 30 points – 61-31 – with 1:31 left to play in the quarter. The Cadets took a 61-35 lead into the fourth.

Linsly outscored Weir, 19-13, in the fourth to account for the final margin of victory.

“They play a tough schedule,” Santangelo said. “Their bigs make shots. They are tough around the rim. They are coming together. They have got a new team. They lost some guys from last season. They want to get some chemistry going in the middle of the season.”

Justin Kaczmarek recordeda team-high 18 points to lead the way offensively for Weir. Syncere Stevenson and Anthony Jeffers each finished with six.

Four players scored in double digits for Linsly. Individually, Ruben Salazar scored a team-high 18 points to lead the way. Also, Adam Gill tallied 16 points, D’arrae Goodwin collected 14 and Uros Petrusic produced 10.

Weir is scheduled to play city-rival Madonna at 6 p.m. tonight inside the Dube Dome. Madonna’s scheduled game against Edison Tuesday at home was postponed.

“We have to get back at it,” Santangelo said. “We have to forget about this one. Tomorrow is on (TV). We have to forget about this one and move on.

“We have to change the way we think and the way we do things. The culture has to change. The guys have to change. The coaches have to change. We have to learn. Everything has got to change.

“We were off for a week-and-a-half. We practiced here and there. I thought we might be a little out of it at the start. The things we practiced we did not do during the game. We have to step up.”

Linsly is slated to hit the road Saturday to play Westerville Central.

Linsly 80, Weir 48

Linsly 23 22 16 19 – 80

Weir 12 13 10 13 – 48

LINSLY (4-7): Murray 1 0-0 2, Upton 1 0-0 2, Rea 1 0-0 2, Gill 6 0-0 16, Goodwin 7 0-0 14, Bonar 1 2-2 5, Ndiaye 2 0-0 5, Dong 0 0-0 0, Ristovic 2 0-0 4, Petrusic 4 2-4 10, Smith 1 0-0 2, Fato 0 0-0 0, Ahumda 0 0-0 0, Salazar 7 4-5 18. TOTALS: 33 8-11 80.

WEIR (2-6): J. Kaczmarek 6 5-6 18, Mowder 1 3-6 5, Stevenson 3 0-0 6, Douglas 0 0-0 0, Glyptis 0 0-0 0, Jeffers 3 0-1 6, Thorn 0 0-0 0, Meneely 0 0-0 0, Horstman 1 0-0 2, Haught 0 0-0 0, E. Kaczmarek 1 0-0 3, Lyons 2 0-0 5, Grays 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 8-13 48.

3-POINTERS: Linsly 6 (Gill 4, Bonar, Ndiaye) Weir 4 (J. Kaczmarek, Glyptis, E. Kaczmarek, Lyons)

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