STEUBENVILLE — The Steubenville boys’ basketball team has shown the ability to score in bunches this season, and Big Red proved that to be the case Saturday evening against Linden McKinley.

The Panthers struck first in the second quarter third to knot the score, however, the Red-and-Black responded in a big way as the boys from Jefferson County ripped off a 48-16 run en route to a 67-49 victory in the third and final game of the annual Watt/Nese Holiday Classic inside the Crimson Center.

“Defensively in the first, we were trading baskets with them,” Big Red (4-0) head coach Mike Haney said. “They are a good team. They’re fast. We thought one of the keys of the game was getting back on defense. Early on, they had some breakaways, but after that we seemed to get back on defense, and we stopped them from scoring.”

The opening basket of the second by the visitors knotted the score at 16, however, Big Red ran away from the Panthers (2-4) at that point as a 3-pointer from the corner gave the boys in red a 64-32 lead in the fourth.

“We worked the ball around,” Haney said. “They’re quick. We wanted to put pressure on them. We wanted to move. We didn’t want to just stand still. When you watch the NBA, guys just stand still and go 1-on-1. We didn’t want to do that. We had some cuts on the backside. We had some backdoor cuts. We were able to move a little bit.”

After being doubled up by the hosts, the Panthers produced a 17-0 run against Big Red’s younger players before Josiah Rea punctuated Big Red’s victory with a thunderous dunk resulting in and 1 to account for the final score.

“I went out and scouted them the other day,” Haney said. “I was able to watch them in person. They get after it on defense. They play fast. We are in basketball shape. We’re in shape now from football. That’s a plus.”

Santino Haney netted a game-high 22 points to lead the way offensively for Big Red, Tre’Von Wiggins tallied 15 and Cole Bowers recorded 12.

TJ Faulks finished with a team-high 19 points to lead the way for the boys in white, while An’kaveon Little collected eight.

Big Red led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, and the victors increased their advantage out to 34-20 heading into the locker room at halftime. After the boys from Franklin County tied the score at 16, Big Red responded with an 18-0 run to go up 34-16.

Big Red led 53-28 entering the fourth.

Santino Haney and Faulks were named their team’s MVPs.

Linden McKinley will play St. Charles Monday at home.

Big Red is scheduled to play Minerva Tuesday at home. The JV game is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game following at 6:45 p.m.

“We want to keep it going,” Coach Haney said.

Big Red 67, Linden McKinley 49

Linden McKinley 14 6 8 21 – 49

Big Red 16 18 19 14 – 67

LINDEN MCKINLEY (2-4): Towns 1 0-0 2, Smith 2 0-0 6, Simpson 0 0-0 0, Little 4 0-0 8, Faulks 9 1-2 19, Head 2 0-0 4, Copeland 2 0-0 5, McMichael 2 1-2 5. TOTALS: 22 2-4 49.

BIG RED (4-0): Wiggins 5 2-2 15, Haney 8 4-5 22, Moore 3 3-4 11, Edwards 1 0-0 2, C. Bowers 5 1-2 12, L. Bowers 1 0-0 2, Adams 0 0-0 0, Luke 0 0-0 0, Burkhart 0 0-0 0, Rea 1 1-1 3, Kokiko 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 11-14 67.

3-POINTERS: Linden McKinley 3 (Smith 2, Copeland); Big Red 8 (Wiggins 3, Haney 2, Moore 2, C. Bowers)