WEIRTON -- Wheeling Central coach Mel Stephens challenged his team coming into Friday night's match up at Weir.
Playing on the road without junior standout Ryan Reasbeck, he knew his team needed someone to step up -- and Michael Toepfer did, netting a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Maroon Knights to a 62-49 victory over the Red Riders inside the Carl Hamill Field House.
"Michael Toepfer shot the ball real well," Stephens said. "Without Ryan Reasbeck playing, he's our leading scorer, we challenged the guys to step up a little bit. Not do too much, but make a play here or there that could make a difference.
"We're a pretty good group. There are going to be times when you have injuries and guys in foul trouble and things like that and you're going to need guys to step up -- and (Friday) we got that."
The Red Riders, who fall to 3-5 on the season, were able to make several runs at the Wheeling Central (5-2) advantage, but each time, Stephens' group had a quick answer to thwart the comeback bids.
"They made quite a few runs at us, but we were able to answer back and never let them get real close," Stephens said. "Anthony Cross played really well for them, we had a tough time containing him, but overall, I'm pretty pleased."
For Weir head coach Anthony Santangelo, his team just couldn't come up with the stops it needed at key times.
"They would make runs, and we would come back, but we would just end up trading baskets," Santangelo said. "We can't just trade baskets, we've got to get stops at the end of the day.
"We did really well defensively, but we've got to hit the boards harder.
"We've got to work on when screens come. Communication wise, we still have got to work on. I feel like that dug us in a hole. We didn't know where our other players were and we just couldn't make stops at the end."
If it wasn't Toepfer doing the damage from long range (five triples) or from the foul line (5 of 6) for the Maroon Knights, it was J.C. Maxwell in the paint, who netted seven baskets from short range and got to the line 10 times, sinking seven.
"Michael has been shooting the ball really well and J.C. is probably our second-best scorer behind Ryan," Stephens said. "Both of those guys we needed to be able to score some points and they were able to do that. Leyton Toepfer made a couple of big shots when they were making run, too."
The Red Riders' efforts were led by Cross, who matched Maxwell's 21 points and dished a game-high six assists.
Linsly 67
Brooke 57
WELLSBURG -- After falling behind 20-14 at the end of the first quarter, Linsly outscored Brooke 34-18 over the next two quarter en route to a victory.
Caleb Murray paced the Cadets with 14 points, followed by Carter Anderson's 12 points, Nathan Coleman's 11 and Hunter Kelley's 10.
Alex Isinghood generated 20 points for the Bruins, while Cole Sperlazza dropped in 12 and Andrew Coursin added 11.
Madonna 60
Oak Glen 47
WEIRTON -- Santino Arlia tallied 21 points and Madonna outscored Oak Glen 19-9 in the fourth quarter as the Dons walked away victorious.
Evan Bone netted 17 points in the win, while teammate Lucky Pulice added 13.
Gage Patterson paced the Golden Bears with 14 points, Jontae Howard amassed 13 points and Chaise Clark garnered 11.
Valley 63
Paden City 56
PADEN CITY -- Gavin Streets drained 10 field goals and finished with 26 points as Valley upended Paden City.
Isaiah Bassett charted 14 points for the Lumberjacks and Walker Bassett provided 13.
Ty Cain was the game's top scorer for Paden City as he bucketed 30 points on 10 field goals and was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.