Dec 14, 2024
FOR THREE — Oak Glen’s Tyler Evans shoots a 3 over Weir High’s Anthony Jeffers during Friday’s game. Evans hit six 3s and finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the Golden Bears to a 71-58 win. – Andrew Grimm
NEW MANCHESTER — It may be a small sample size to judge from just two games in, but Oak Glen coach Jerry Every certainly has to be encouraged by what he’s seen from his group in the fourth quarter its first two times out this season.
After fending off Brooke in the season opener Tuesday, the Golden Bears went on a 18-0 run over a span of more than four minutes in the final quarter to turn a five-point deficit into a double-digit lead on the way to a comeback 71-58 victory over rival Weir High to open the home portion of the schedule.
“Man, this is a resilient group,” Everly said. ” I mean, we were down. We were out. Gavin (Geisse) fouled out and he was our leading scorer in the first game. And Tyler (Evans) started cramping up, and he was the one that was shooting lights out at the beginning. He was our leading scorer tonight. So, we went half the fourth quarter without Tyler, and the other guys just stepped up. Noah Wylie just played a great game. I thought our defense stepped up. We were getting out on shooters, forcing tough shots, rebounding. We started handling their pressure better, Mason (Kell) did a great job getting open and we were hitting the free throws when we needed to.”
The late surge to victory came after the Red Riders had made a run of their own, 10-0 to start the second half, and had opened the fourth quarter with four-straight points to go up five at 51-46. By the time Weir made another basket, nearly five minutes of game time later, they were in what proved to be an insurmountable hole.
“We climbed back, it was 51-46, we were up 51-46 … and we got selfish,” Weir High head coach Anthony Santangelo said. “We tried to make plays that weren’t there, dribbling through the zone, and it snowballed. We’ve got to learn. We’ve got a whole new team out there. I told our guys to keep our heads up. We’ve got to learn, especially from this.
“Props to Oak Glen. They played a (heck) of a game, even with some of their guys out with foul trouble. And Tyler Evans shot the heck out of it.
“We weren’t patient. So, we’re going to learn from it. We’ve got to keep learning and watch film and see where it goes from here.”
Oak Glen started the game hot on a 7-2 run and led 22-15 after the opening quarter, extending the lead further with a 9-0 run to start the third quarter. The Red Riders trimmed that margin to six, but Oak Glen pushed it back out to 10 at 39-29 at the break. The big first half for the Golden Bears was led by Evans, who netted all of his game-high 24 points and hit six 3s in the opening half.
“That’s really hard to do, it was his night,” Santangelo said of Evans. “It was Oak Glen’s night. We’re going to learn from it and move on.”
Evans’ performance early was what Everly and company are hopeful to see on a consistent basis this season.
“If it wasn’t for Tyler, we probably get run out of the gym,” Everly said. “We’ve been waiting for that, and he did it tonight, and it’s in him. He can do it. He can shoot. He can shoot, and he’s probably our better passer. He’s a good rebounder, and he’s just a hard worker.”
In the fourth quarter, after the Weir High run to take the lead, it was Noah Wiley that stepped up for Oak Glen, netting 14 of his 17 points in the final eight minutes. Oak Glen went 8 of 11 from the line in the final quarter, Will Weekley going 4 for 4.
“We stepped up in the fourth quarter again,” Everly said. “We don’t have a lot of senior leadership, but these guys have been through the wars, Tyler, Gavin, and Will. And they’re really starting to believe in themselves, and that’s the key. And then the sophomores are doing a great job. Aidan Dawson and Elijah Knisley coming off the bench did well for us. It was just a team effort for us.
“These guys worked hard all summer and fall. They worked real hard, and we shot a lot. They put in a lot of hard work and we’re seeing it. It’s 2-0, but we’ve still got St. Mary’s tomorrow night, down there, and then we’ve got John Marshall, and it’s just a constant battle. But it feels good to be sitting here 2-0. It feels good to beat Weir, we haven’t done that in a while.”
The Red Riders were led by 18 points from Damir Mowder, 13 from Anthony Jeffers and 12 from Justin Kaczmarek.
UP NEXT
Weir High: Has a big early season challenge when it hosts Wheeling Park on Tuesday.
Oak Glen: Was slated to travel to St. Marys on Saturday before going to John Marshall on Tuesday.
Oak Glen 71, Weir High 58
WH 15-14-18-11 – 58
OG 22-17-7-25 – 71
WEIR HIGH (0-1): Kaczmarek 3 3-4 12; Mowder 7 3-4 18; Stevenson 2 4-4 8; Glyptis 1 0-0 2; Jeffers 5 1-1 13; Douglas 1 1-3 3; Grays 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 20, 12-16; 58.
OAK GLEN (2-0): Kell 1 5-7 7; Weekley 1 5-6 8; Wiley 7 1-2 17; Geisse 5 0-0 11; Evans 9 0-0 24; Knisley 0 2-2 2; Dawson 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 24, 13-19; 71.
3-POINT GOALS: Weir High 6 (Kaczmarek 3, Jeffers 2, Mowder); Oak Glen 10 (Evans 6, Wiley 2, Geisse, Weekley).
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