WEIRTON — The pendulum swung both ways in the second half as both teams turned up the heat.

The Weir boys’ basketball team built a seven-point advantage early in the third quarter, however, Oak Glen countered with 16-5 run to take a four-point lead. Now trailing, the Red Riders ripped off a 22-8 run to build a 10-point advantage in the fourth. The Golden Bears battled back and closed to within three points on two occasions, however, Oak Glen was not able to complete the comeback as Weir held on for a 60-57 victory in a matchup of Hancock County rivals Friday night on Ron “Fritz” Williams Court inside the Carl Hamill Fieldhouse.

“We had to adjust,” first-year Weir (1-1) head coach Jason Angle said. “We knew what they were doing. We just had to adjust. We had to get our personnel in the right spots. Once we did that, we were able to get them out of their pressure. We forced them to go man, and when that happened, we were in the driver’s seat. We were in our comfort zone. We held our composure. We hit some clutch free throws down the stretch. Overall, our defense was the difference. Oak Glen is very talented. They are big.”

A basket gave the Red-and-Black a 26-19 lead in the third before the boys in blue responded with their run enabling them to build a 35-31 lead. The visitors led by one at the end of the third.

Oak Glen pushed its lead out to 43-39 in the fourth before the boys in black battled back and built a 53-43 lead thanks to a 14-0 run. The Golden Bears cut into their deficit, but they were never able to draw even.

“Our length helped us,” Oak Glen (0-1) head coach Jerry Everly said about what made his team’s press so effective in the third. “We played defense without fouling, but then we started fouling. You are not going to win when you have five guys foul out. We fouled them. I don’t begrudge the officials or anything. We fouled them. When we lost Noah (Willey) early in the fourth that changed the momentum. When he got his fifth, that hurt us.

“It was our first game. We were a nervous wreck. We couldn’t catch the ball. We were nervous. We were too amped up. We couldn’t catch our breath.

“There are things we have to work on. They were better than us tonight. We are going to try and get better.”

After falling behind by 10, the Golden Bears were able to whittle their deficit down to 3 at 53-50, but three free throws spread out over multiple possessions enabled the victors to extend their advantage to 56-50. A 3-pointer pulled Oak Glen to within 58-55, and a pair of foul shots both teams made the score 60-57.

Leading by three, the Red Riders missed the first of two foul shots, and a lane violation on the second gave the Golden Bears the ball with a chance to tie the score with 9.5 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock. The Golden Bears missed one 3-pointer, but they were unable to corral the offensive rebound, however, their desperation 3 was off the mark allowing the Red Riders to pull out the victory.

“We had two scrimmages against St. Clairsville and Wheeling Central, and the game against Big Red to prepare us for this game,” Angle said. “We flushed the Big Red, and we moved on.”

Cayden Braswell tallied a team-high 14 points to lead the way offensively for Weir, Kason Lash collected 10 and Angelo DoBraska delivered nine.

Gavin Geisse scored a game-high 21 points to lead the way for Oak Glen, Will Weekley collected nine and Chase Hartung and Mason Kell each contributed seven.

The two teams struggled from the free-throw line as they combined to go 41-79 from the charity stripe as 55 fouls were called in the game.

Weir led 9-8 at the end of the first, and the home team increased their advantage out to 24-19 entering the locker room at halftime. The Golden Bears responded and took a 39-38 lead heading into the fourth.

Weir’s game scheduled for today at North Marion has been canceled due to impending weather.

Weir is scheduled to play Wheeling Park Tuesday night on the road.

Oak Glen is slated to play John Marshall Tuesday night at home.

The Weir girls are scheduled to take on Indian Creek today at home. The JV game is set to start at 11 a.m. The game will consist of two quarters with the varsity game to follow.

Weir 60, Oak Glen 57

Oak Glen 8 11 20 18 – 57

Weir 9 15 14 22 – 60

OAK GLEN (0-1): Hartung 3 1-5 7, Kell 2 1-2 7, Knisley 1 1-2 4, Weekley 1 7-12 9, Dawson 0 0-0 0, Willey 2 1-2 6, Geisse 7 6-10 21, Evans 1 0-0 3, Hebrock 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 17 17-35 57.

WEIR (1-1): Stevenson 1 5-8 8, DoBraska 2 5-6 9, Haught 0 2-2 2, Glyptis 0 0-2 0, Hortsman 3 0-0 6, Lyons 2 1-3 6, Williams 2 0-0 5, Lash 2 5-12 10, Braswell 4 6-11 14. TOTALS: 16 24-44 60.

3-POINTERS: Oak Glen 6 (Kell 2, Knisley, Willey, Geisse, Evans); Weir 4 (Stevenson, Lyons, Williams, Lash)