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WEIRTON -- The Brooke boys basketball team was well rested heading into its showdown against rival Weir, while the Red Riders’ tank wasn’t full after they played an emotional game Wednesday night.
Though they did not have a lot of time to recover, the Red Riders had to get back up on the horse again to take on their rivals from Brooke County.
The Bruins built a 24-point advantage early in the third quarter only to see the Red Riders storm their way back into the game as the boys from Hancock County cut their deficit to a mere four points, however, Brooke made enough foul shots down the stretch to hold on for a 67-62 victory Thursday night on Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Fieldhouse.
The boys in green built a 47-23 lead in the third, and it appeared as if they would run away with an easy victory, however, that proved not to be the case, as the boys in white refused to go away quietly as they were within striking distance late in the game.
“We caught them with tired legs, and we knew that,” Brooke (13-8) head coach Adam Shinsky said. “We came as a group to watch them play last night. They battle. They start really fast, but they did not have their legs under them. We were able to take advantage of that, and we were able to score some insurance points in the first half. They gave themselves a chance.
“Brooke – we are a team that starts extremely slow. We are going to have to change that.”
Weir got as close as 66-62 in the final seconds of play.
“We brought in young energy,” Weir (8-12) head coach Anthony Santangelo said. “Those guys really wanted it. We were lacking our legs in the first half, so we brought those guys in. They earned at the JV level all year, and they earned it at practice all year. G. Cross really led the way for us as we got back into the game.”
Cross scored a team-high 31 points to lead the way for the Red Riders, but it was not enough to complete the comeback.
Cole Sperlazza collected a game-high 36 points to lead the way for the Bruins. Twenty-two of Sperlazza’s points came at the free-throw line. The guard ended the night going 22-of-26 from the charity stripe. He tallied 14 points in the second half – all of which came from the line. After the visitors outscored the hosts in each of the first three quarters, the home team turned the tables in the fourth as they outscored the victors, 30-13, in the quarter to give themselves a chance to possibly win the game or send it into overtime.
“They put some new guys in the game,” Shinsky said. “We knew their legs were tired. They were able to catch up due to us missing some foul shots. We missed a foul shot on two straight chances, and they hit a 3 and two 2s. That was a 7-2 turnaround.
“We were not great at the line. Cole Sperlazza shoots around 90 percent from the line, and he missed more shots from the line tonight than he ever has but he made some clutch shots from the line when we needed them.”
As a team, Brooke made 30-of-40 attempts from the foul line, while Weir went 10-of-17 from the stripe.
The Bruins outscored the Red Riders by nine points in each of the first two quarters before outscoring them by four in the third as Brooke took a 54-32 lead into the fourth.
“We were playing meatball,” Santangelo said about what caused his team to fall behind by so many points. “We were not running our offense at all. We were not cutting. We were not screening. We were standing around. We took some bad shots. They were able to get out into transition, and they were able to get away from us.”
Brooke led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter, and the Bruins outscored the Red Riders, 22-13, in the second stanza to build a 41-23 lead at the break. Sperlazza scored at the buzzer to give the Bruins even more momentum as they headed into the locker room at halftime.
“Last night was an emotional game,” Santangelo said. “We played five quarters. It is hard to bounce back from that. My mindset and the mindset of our coaching staff is we are not going to quit. We are going to continue to get after it. We are going to continue to play defense, and we are going to get after it on offense.
“The guys who came in in the second half played really hard. They did everything we asked. I am very proud of them.”
Alex Isinghood added 16 points to help Brooke’s cause.
Cross was the only Red Rider to reach double digits in the game. Tyler Kelly and Grant Wilharm each tallied eight points for Weir.
Weir was dealt a serious blow in the second quarter when starter Charlie Zagula went down with an ankle injury with 4:18 to be played in the first half. He stayed down for a minute or two before being helped off the court. He did not return to the game. Brooke led 26-15 at the time of his injury.
Weir won the JV game, 82-79.
The two teams are scheduled to play again Saturday night inside the Brooke Wellness Center.
“I told you before it is like an NBA schedule,” Santangelo said. “Now we have seen Brooke live. We have to play with that same energy. We are going to have to play with that energy for four quarters instead of one-and-a-half quarters. We are going to be prepared. We are going to rest up tomorrow. We are going to be ready to go Saturday.”
The game at Brooke will be the two teams’ final regular season game before heading into sectional play this upcoming week.
“We were looking forward to a rematch with Wheeling Park,” Shinsky said. “We played them Tuesday. We expected to play Wheeling Park Tuesday, but somehow we ended up as the fourth seed. We are behind a team Weir High handled twice and a team we beat earlier in the year. It is hard to understand. I am not sure how people voted that way.
“We play Weir again Saturday. It will be the final home game for our seniors. After that, we are going to try and shock the state and give the No. 1 ranked team all it can handle.”
Brooke 67, Weir 62
Brooke 19 22 13 13 – 67
Weir 10 13 9 30 – 62
BROOKE (13-8): Taylor 1 0-0 2, Marks 0 0-0 0, Knox 3 0-4 7, Isinghood 6 4-4 16, Sperlazza 6 22-26 36, Orban 0 0-0 0, Varner 1 1-2 3, Sperringer 0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 17 30-40 67.
WEIR (8-12): Zagula 1 0-0 2, Cross 0 2-4 2, Stromile 1 0-0 2, Taflan 1 0-0 2, G. Cross 13 2-3 31, Scopel 0 0-0 0, Kelly 2 4-6 8, Wilharm 3 1-2 8, Lyons 2 0-0 4, Jones 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 24 10-17 62..
3-POINTERS: Brooke 3 (Sperlazza 2, Knox); Weir 4 (G. Cross 3, Wilharm)