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NEW CUMBERLAND -- The Wheeling Central boys' basketball team was focused on two main things on Friday night -- playing unselfish offense and defensively keying in on Oak Glen's top offensive threats.
The Maroon Knights (5-1) did both as they stormed past the homesteading Golden Bears 62-44.
"I thought we shared the ball really well," Central coach Mel Stephens said. "We have an unselfish group and I thought they made the extra pass quite a few times.
"Our main objective was to try to control (Jared) Hissam a little bit and try to limit (Jontae) Howard's touches inside, which I think we did for the most part. I thought offensively sharing the ball and defensively understanding which guys can hurt us and how he can hurt us were key and they did a great job of following the game plan."
Senior leader and returning all-state standout Ryan Reasbeck led the charge for the Knights with a game-high 30 points, while teammate Leyton Toepfer bucketed 12.
"Ryan's unselfishness and ability to not only shoot from the perimeter but to get to the rim makes him a tough matchup," Stephens said. "His leadership is the big one this year. He's a senior and he's been through it. Those guys look up to him. He was all-state last year and he still works hard and when they see that they think 'that's the way you have to do it.'"
Oak Glen coach Jerry Everly was also impressed by Reasbeck's performance, despite his squad having some obstacles to overcome.
"Reasbeck can really shoot," Everly said. "They can shoot from outside so we were trying to take that away a little bit and slow them down with our zone and try to close in on shooters the best we could. I thought our effort was there and we played hard. Jontae didn't get to practice this week so this game was his practice and our point guard is out so we were battling that against one of the best teams in the state. That's not fun."
Central came out strong on a 7-0 run and Reasbeck drained a pair of treys en route to a 16-7 edge after the first.
Two more 3-pointers by Reasbeck and two by Leyton Toepfer in the second quarter created a 33-15 halftime advantage for the Maroon Knights.
Despite the comfortable cushion, Stephens' club didn't get complacent and went to work out of the locker room by starting the third on an 11-2 march.
Reasbeck added two more 3's in the frame, part of a 12-point quarter, which led to a 52-30 upper hand heading to the final frame.
"You never want to quit at halftime," Stephens said. "Good teams make comebacks on you and we are trying to build things and do it our way. I thought we came out in the third quarter with a lot of energy."
Oak Glen enjoyed a 7-2 spurt in the fourth but the margin was too much to overcome.
Hissam still managed to drain four 3-pointers and finish with 16 points, while Howard added eight for the Bears (1-7).