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Weir High boys come back to sweep Edison

LETTING IT GO — Weir High’s Sebastian Spencer attempts to hit a 3-pointer during the first quarter of Tuesday’s game with Edison at the Carl R. Hamill Field Hous. (Photo by Andrew Grimm)

WEIRTON — Down 10 after a sloppy first half, Weir High coach Mike Granato said he challenged his charges at the halftime break and it paid off as his Red Riders came from behind to win a thriller over Edison, 66-60, Tuesday night on the Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl R. Hamill Fieldhouse.

Both teams went into the game with only four wins but the Red Riders had beaten the Wildcats 79-54 on Dec. 28. That may have been what inspired the Wildcats as they outplayed their rivals through the first three quarters and carried a 52-44 lead into the final eight minutes.

The Wildcats, though, had nine of their 20 turnovers in the fourth quarter and scored only eight points while Weir High roared past them with a furious effort in the final two minutes of the game. It was the second straight game that the Red Riders went down to the wire, as they lost Friday in the final seconds to Brooke.

“The difference in the two games was the foul line,” Granato explained. “When you make the free throws down the stretch things always look better. We made 10 of 12 from the foul line, but got only 11 of 24 against Brooke. I did some research and going into that Brooke game we were shooting only 56 percent from the foul line for the year and then we make only 11 of 24 against them.”

The other big advantage for Weir High was in rebounding by a margin of 28-21. The two Red Rider post players, Jake McCoy and Reed Reitter, corralled 11 and six rebounds respectively, and they were especially active late in the game on the offensive board.

McCoy wound up a point shy of having a double-double. He had 11 rebounds and scored nine points. Reitter finished with 15 points and senior Cam Pierce tallied 12.

“I was just trying to help my team,” McCoy said of his career high rebounding effort. “Rebounding is what I do.”

“I think another difference in the game might have been our 17 year-olds looking at the score of that December game against Edison and that may be why we played a little sloppy in the first half,” Granato said. “Nate (Moses) has done a tremendous job with that team. The difference between the game in December and now is tremendous. And, their No. 11 (Issac Schmitz) has made outstanding improvement. If there is a most improved player in the OVAC, it is him.”

Schmitz wound up game-high scorer with 22 points, including four from behind the arc. The Wildcats had 10 3-pointers in the game and Anthony Sinicropi, who backed up Schmitz with 10 points, got two of them.

Turnovers were a big factor for the Wildcats, especially those nine in the fourth quarter.

“We were playing our best basketball of the year,” Moses said after the game. “We were flying around on the defensive end and doing a real good job for a lot of the game. You have to give Weir a lot of credit. There were a couple of times where we could’ve put them away and they didn’t give up. They made the plays down the stretch and we didn’t.

“We’ve been on an upswing, but in a big game when you’re up four late in a game and don’t make free throws and don’t block out on the defensive end, you don’t get a body into them, that’s what happens.

“We were getting after it on the defensive end through three quarters, but in the fourth quarter we just stopped doing the things we needed to do and the things that made us successful.”

Weir High came out of the break with a 14-4 run and when Reitter got a lob pass from Nick Krutilla and went to the basket the game was tied at 38 with 3:07 remaining in the third period.

The Wildcats countered with a furious 9-0 run of their own that started with when Andrew Kinney made the second of two free throws with 2:53 left and ended a little over a minute later on Zac Easter’s trey.

Weir High got another run early in the fourth quarter capitalizing on three straight Edison turnovers to tie the score at 54-54 with 4:18 left in the game.

The Wildcats scored four straight points, but the Red Riders responded with four points by senior Keyshawn Faulkes, who finished with 20 points in the game, to tie it again at 58-58 with 2:17 left.

Schmitz put the Wildcats ahead at 60-58 with a jumper, but it turned out to be his team’s final points as the Red Riders had their final run of eight points to finish the game.

Edison now is 5-13 and will wait until the OVAC consolation games next week before they play again. Those games will be determined later this week.

Granato said he takes pride in having a February team and is hoping a win like this will set the tone for his Red Riders (5-11) as they get into the final games of the season. Their next outing is Friday when they host Buckeye Local and they return to the Hamill Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon for a game with North Marion. It is a makeup game that was postponed on Dec. 30. There is a 4:30 p.m. jayvee start.

Game notes:

¯The Weir High jayvees scored a 67-40 win over Edison with Skylar Jackson scoring 24 and Brodie McUmar 20. Alex Mayle was high scorer for the Wildcats.

Weir High 66, Edison 60

Edison 15-19-18-8 — 60

Weir 14-10-20-22 — 66

EDISON (5-13): Sinicropi 4 0-0 10; Easter 2 0-0 6; Hyndman 3 0-0 7; Schmitz 8 2-2 22; Kinney 2 4-8 8; McBane 1 2-3 4; Pugh 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 21 8-13 60. Three-pointers: 10 (Schmitz 4, Sinicroppi 2, Easter 2, Hyndman, Pugh); Rebounds: 21 (Schmitz 7); Turnovers: 20.

WEIR HIGH (5-11): Spencer 1 0-0 2; Pierce 4 2-2 12; Faulks 9 2-2 20; McCoy 3 3-4 9; Reitter 7 1-2 15; Krutilla 2 2-2 6; Buffington 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17 10-12 66. Three-pointers: 2 (Pierce 2); Rebounds 28 (McCoy 11); Turnovers 11.

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