STEUBENVILLE — Down a couple of starters, Big Red got off to a bit of a sloppy start Friday night.

Once they settled in, though, the shots started falling — and in a hurry. Big Red rattled off a 26-3 run to take control and never looked back on the way to rolling to a 73-39 victory.

Big Red, which earlier this week locked up the top seed in next week’s OVAC Class 5A tournament, leads the Division III East District RPI standings and is ranked No. 6 in the state in Division III by MaxPreps, improved to 16-1 with the win.

Despite missing two regular starters — senior Tre Wiggins due to an illness and sophomore Landon Bowers with an injury — Steubenville still finished with four players in double digits and shot 62 percent from the floor, making 12 3-pointers and shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Junior standout Santino Haney, the OVAC’s leading scorer, netted a game-high 22 points to go with six rebounds. Senior Jermaine Moore followed close behind with 21 points and four boards, knocking down a game-high five 3s. Senior Cole Bowers hit three triples and finished with 11 points and junior Braidyn Edwards came off the bench to net 12 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

East Liverpool was led by 11 points and seven rebounds from Tyler Kirby.

UP NEXT

East Liverpool: Travels to Weir High on Tuesday in OVAC consolation pool action.

Big Red: Hosts No. 4 seed John Marshall in the OVAC Class 5A tournament semifinals on Tuesday night.

(Late Thursday)

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Wheeling Central 72, United Local 42

HANOVERTON — The Maroon Knights excelled on both ends of the court against the Golden Eagles, finishing with four double-digit scorers while holding United below 10 points in three of their four quarters played Thursday.

Seneca Heller led all scorers with 18, followed by Erin Maxwell’s 16, Bella Fitzsimmons’ 15, and Haley Severns’ 12.

Maelee Smith led United Local with 15.

Toronto 52, Valley 44

TORONTO — The Red Knights got the better of the Lumberjills at home Thursday, led by Jayna Reeves’ 19 points.

Reeves was joined in double figures by Olivia Owings (15) and Josey Dickinson (10).

Kendall Loy led Valley in scoring with 11, while Laken Dawson and Michaela Miller each scored 10.

Valley trailed 28-12 at halftime, but had pulled within eight, 39-31, heading into the fourth quarter.