WELLSBURG — The Brooke boys’ basketball team steadily built its lead against Indian Creek.

The Bruins led by one in the first quarter before leading by as many as 17 points in the third en route to a 53-36 victory against the Redskins Friday night inside the Brooke Wellness Center.

“Indian Creek is a very physical and a very smart team,” Brooke (6-2) head coach Adam Shinsky said. “They were able to slow us up. They are well coached. I talked to the guys at halftime, and two of the things we preach are winning the loose balls and getting out in transition. At halftime, I gave our loose balls and F, and I gave us a D-minus on our transition game. They have the big boy inside. We had to defend him. We had to fight for rebounds. I challenged our guys. We picked things up a little bit in transition, but not with the loose balls. They had a great gameplan, and they were able to slow us down.”

The hosts jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first before the visitors cut their deficit down to 9-8. The boys in white tallied six of the final eight points of the quarter to take a 15-10 lead into the second.

After the Redskins scored to pull within three, the Bruins answered with a 3 and a 2 to go up 20-12. Later, a 3-pointer by Pete Fodor pushed the Green-and-Gold advantage up to 27-17, and a free throw by Andrew Murdock extended the lead to 28-17. The victors led 30-19 at halftime.

The boys from Brooke County collected a three-point play to open the scoring in the third, and later on a pair of foul shots by Murdock increased their advantage to 42-25. The victors led 44-30 entering the fourth.

The visitors from Jefferson County got as close as nine in the fourth, but Brooke was able to pull away and secure the victory.

Indian Creek (1-10) has a different look this season as senior Nishon White is a real threat inside for the Redskins.

“He’s a physical specimen,” Shinsky said. “He does a good job in the post. He makes you work. “(Grant)Yost and (Crosby) Morris have done a good job this year of blocking shots. We have watched Indian Creek, and he’s tough. We have things we have to cleanup for Wednesday. We play Tuesday, they play Tuesday and then Wednesday is the date of our makeup game.

“This is my sixth season, and we did not play my first year due to COVID. We only played West Virginia teams. We did not play them last year. Their schedule was full of Buckeye 8 games. This year, we are in the Buckeye 8. We have played them five times, and all five games have been close. One year, the game was won at the buzzer, and another year I think we won at the foul line with no time left on the clock. They are well coached. I thoughts are with Coach (Joe) Dunlevy. They are well coached. They do what they do.”

Pete Fodor finished with a team-high 14 points to lead the way offensively for the Bruins, Morris recorded 13 and Andrew Murdock collected 11. Murdock contributed five assists in the win, Morris contributed five blocks and Fodor delivered three steals.

White led the Red-and-Gold with a game-high 16 points, while Evan McGrew and Caden Saffle each finished with eight.

The Bruins have now won five games in a row.

“We wore warmups tonight, and our thoughts are with Coach Dunlevy,” Shinsky said. “You can tell he had his team fundamentally sound. They are well coached. They had a good gameplan. I wish them the best of the luck the rest of the season except when we play them.

“I did not meet him until the first time we played them. I had never met him before that. I have learned so much from him as coach. We always had great out of bounds plays. They would get 10-12 points just off out of bounds plays. Our thoughts are with Coach Dunlevy. They were 1-9 coming into tonight, but they are still a very dangerous team.”

Brooke is scheduled to play East Liverpool Tuesday night on the road up at Potter Fieldhouse.

Indian Creek is slated to play Harrison Central Tuesday night on the road.

The two teams will meet in a makeup game Wednesday at Indian Creek on Coach D Court. The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 16, but it got postponed due to inclement weather.

“We have a big week in the Buckeye 8,” Shinsky said. “We play East Liverpool Tuesday, Indian Creek Wednesday and then Beaver Local Friday. Our two losses have come against two of the top teams around. We lost to Wheeling Central, and then we lost to Beaver Local. I think Beaver Local is one of the top five teams around. It’s going to be a big week for us, but we are looking forward to it.”

Brooke 53, Indian Creek 36

Indian Creek 10 9 11 6 – 36

Brooke 15 16 13 9 – 53

INDIAN CREEK (1-10): Mazar 0 1-2 1, Nickell 1 0-0 3, McGrew 2 3-6 8, Vick 0 0-0 0, Pietro 0 0-0 0, Saffle 3 0-0 8, Haines 0 0-0 0, White 7 2-3 16. TOTALS: 13 6-11 46.

BROOKE (6-2): Yost 3 1-2 7, T. Sperringer 2 0-0 4, Murdock 2 7-12 11, Morris 3 6-9 13, Ferrell 2 0-0 4, K. Sperringer 0 0-0 0, Fodor 4 3-4 13, McAbee 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 17-27 53.

3-POINTERS: Indian Creek (Saffle 2, Nickell, McGrew); Brooke 4 (Fodor 3, Morris)