It was a 3-point barrage for the Monarchs, who put down nine shots from beyond the arc against the Red Riders. On the other end, Weir struggled to gain traction amidst turnover problems.

“I like the defensive effort tonight,” John Marshall head coach Michael Thomas said. “You know, Oak Glen got us the other night. Hats off to them. They played a really, really good game. We didn’t play our best defensively. We got back to what we’re good at, being aggressive on defense and it kind of worked out for us tonight.”

John Marshall led 22-4 after the first quarter, putting Weir behind the eight-ball from the outset.

Jackson Helms and Preston Watkins each made two 3-pointers in the opening quarter. Helms ended with 13 points while Watkins scored 20, knocking in four 3-pointers.

“We took steps backwards,” Weir head coach Jason Angle said. “I thought we were moving in the right direction from the beginning of our scrimmages up to this point, but there were some setbacks today. A lot of lack of focus, a lack of discipline, and just trying to force the issue. Too many times we turned the ball over, and I’ve said this a lot of times– no matter what level you’re coaching, if you turn the ball over, you can’t beat bad teams, let alone good teams. My hat’s off to John Marshall, they outplayed us tonight. They were physical, they were aggressive, they did everything the right way.”

John Marshall was led in scoring by Landen Snyder, who scored every which way Friday- he made a pair of 3-pointers, shot 5-6 from the foul line, and dropped in buckets from multiple spots inside the arc.

Snyder scored six points in the first quarter, helping spark John Marshall’s hot start.

While a dozen 3-point makes certainly was a welcome sight, Thomas had a critique for his team.

“Well, you got to make shots, and we did,” Thomas said. “We just got to stop living and dying by the three right now. We got to start penetrating a little bit more, get into the rim, get to the free throw line. We’ve kind of died off in the second and third quarter the last couple of games. But when we make shots, we’re pretty good.”

Weir was led by Cayden Braswell, who scored 11 points for the Red Riders. Weir made three 3-pointer Friday against John Marshall’s nine.

Back above .500 in the very-young boys basketball season, Thomas likes what he’s seeing from his squad.

“Just three games in, it’s tough to say, but I like the defensive intensity that we’ve had these first two home games,” Thomas said. “We have to carry it over on the road. But I think offensively we can score. It’s just gotta be defensively– we got to have it every night. And I think tonight proved if we play defense, we can hang with people.”