MONROE CENTRAL’S Garet Cramer goes up for a shot as Linsly’s Hunter Kelly challenges the shot from behind. The Cadets picked up a 67-54 victory.

WHEELING — Dave Wojcik has been around the basketball block and back.

And the veteran coach admitted inside his office Friday night that if someone had told him in November that his Linsly Cadets would be sitting at 13-5 as the calendar turns to February, he “wouldn’t have believed” that person.

But, that is the reality of the matter. The Cadets, who return to action tonight at Shadyside, took another huge step toward solidifying a home game in the OVAC Tournament, which opens on Feb. 11, with a 67-54, repeat win over Monroe Central inside the Stifel Fieldhouse.

“This is a resilient group,” Wojcik said. “We throw a lot of things at these kids, both offensively and defensively, and they pick things up. And, they allow us to coach them, which is a blessing. It’s hard to find that. This is a pretty special group.”

That coaching and resiliency paid dividends early, too.

Linsly set the tone for the game in the first quarter. As six different players found the scoring column, including eight from senior standout Marshall Taylor, the Cadets played solidly on the defensive end and built an impressive 23-7 lead.

“We wanted to get out of the gates (quickly), try to build a lead and sustain it,” Wojcik said. “I thought our kids did that, for the most part, from the start.”

Though he played several different lineup combinations as he hoped to buy some of his key contributors some minutes on the bench with a back-to-back on the horizon, Wojcik was pleased with how his team continued to control.

“We were able to sub, which was good, but I am proud of how we responded,” Wojcik said. “We could have let (Monroe) back into the game. We kept reminding the guys that this (lead) could shrink to eight or up to 20, what do you want to do?”

Monroe got within 14 at halftime, but the Cadets extended the lead back to 21 at the final stop. Taylor scored six more.

“I thought we responded well in the second quarter, but our shots just weren’t going down for us early,” Monroe head coach Jon Perkins said. “Coach Wojcik does a nice job with execution. You can tell his guys are well-trained in their sets and they execute them well to get good looks. We didn’t execute well defensively and it led to a hole.”

Linsly’s lead grew to as many as 25 in the early minutes of the fourth before Wojcik emptied his bench.

Taylor led all scorers in the game with 18. Impressive freshman Nathan Coleman added top support with 14, while senior Trevin Tush added 10.

Monroe Central was led by Austin Hogue, who had 15. Talon Babcock had 10 in top support.

“Sometimes our guys are really impatient on the offensive ends and we don’t get the looks that we’d prefer,” Perkins said. “Sometimes you have to pass up an OK shot to get a good shot or pass up a good shot to get a great shot, but our guys are still learning that.”