FIERCE BATTLE — Weir High’s Justin Brueck and Damarr Turner try to wrestle a rebound away from Oak Glen’s Alex Dennis during Tuesday’s season opener for both teams inside the Bears Den. - Andrew Grimm

NEW MANCHESTER — After settling in, Weir High found its grueling style and pulled away from host Oak Glen for a 79-49 opening night win in the Bears Den Tuesday.

“It’s a great win,” Weir High head coach Anthony Santangelo said. “These guys have been putting in the work for three weeks now and seeing that results shows all. These guys deserve it all.

“These guys want it, and you can’t teach want. They got a taste of the playoffs with football and the couple that didn’t play football also really want it. You can’t teach heart and these guys give max effort.

“We’re going to get better as we go, and they got a taste of success winning by 30, but they want more. That’s what we stressed.”

Colin “G” Cross led the way for the Red Riders with a 23-point performance, including a pair of triples, while Damarr Turner followed closely with 22 points in the scorebook. He hit four shots from beyond the arc.

“G was making shots outside and inside, driving that baseline and getting and-ones,” Santangelo said. “He was directing traffic. That’s one of our leaders that really stepped up.

“Damarr is another leader for us and in the third quarter he really stepped up big. He sparked us, he was flying all over the place and making buckets.

“Him and G, those are our guys — and they responded.”

Alex Dennis netted 18 to lead the Golden Bears, while Jared Hissam netted 15 points for Jerry Everly’s club.

“We battled back, but they wore us down,” Everly said. “That’s their game. They wear you out, you can stay with them for a while, but then they’re going to go on a spurt and then you’re in trouble. That kind of happened to us.

“Alex and Jared played well, they’re most of our offense, they play well together. We felt like we could get in our offense, that wasn’t the issue, it was getting open on the press-break and we rushed some shots.”

After Oak Glen pulled ahead to an early lead, Santangelo’s Red Riders rattled off a 9-1 run and took a 21-12 lead after the opening quarter thanks to back-to-back triples from Cross and Turner in the final minute.

The Red Riders led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter, but the Bears clawed back to within 10 at the break at 35-25.

The Golden Bears made one last big push to start the third quarter, rattling off the first seven points to get within three, but Weir High cranked the offense back up and pushed the lead to 17 headed to the fourth quarter.

“We got it down to (three) there, but we needed a stop and we just couldn’t make it,” Everly said. “They went on a run, and that was about it. The guys played hard, they got after it. We’re starting a freshman and have some younger guys that haven’t seen varsity time … that was there introduction and we’ll get better.”

That lead, after an old-fashioned three-point-play by Cross and another Turner long-range bomb, swelled to as many as 32 before the subs came in.

“That third quarter started off a little sluggish, but then I think frustration got to Oak Glen and their legs looked like they tired out some,” Santangelo said. “It was fun to watch our guys execute what we preach.”

JV

The Red Riders earned an opening night sweep with a 50-46 win in the prelim.

Christian Long led the Red Riders with 12 points, while Jayden Anderson and Journey Turner each netted 10. Tyler Evans led Oak Glen with 17, while AJ Ramgeet tallied 14.

UP NEXT

Both teams are back in action later this week. Oak Glen heads to John Marshall on Thursday, while the Red Riders head to Cameron on Friday. 

Weir High 79, Oak Glen 49

Weir High 21-14-18-26 – 79

Oak Glen 12-13-11-13 – 49

WEIR HIGH (1-0): Cross 8 5-7 23; Lyons 1 0-1 2; Prentice 0 2-2 2; Mowder 2 0-0 4; Brueck 4 3-4 11; D. Smith 4 0-0 9; Turner 9 0-0 22; J. Smith 0 0-0 0; Jones 3 0-0 6; Long 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 31, 10-14; 79.

OAK GLEN (0-1): Chaney 1 0-0 2; McKay 0 0-0 0; Cole 2 0-0 1; Ramgeet 1 3-4 5; Hissam 6 1-2 15; McCauley 0 1-3 7; Howard 0 0-0 0; Ferguson 0 0-0 0; Cowart 0 0-0 0; Dennis 5 8-10 18. TOTALS: 16, 13-19; 49.

3-POINT GOALS: Weir High 7 (Turner 4, Cross 2, D. Smith); Oak Glen 4 (Hissam 2, McCauley 2).