Photo by Kim North Wheeling Park’s Nate Simon passes the ball Friday against Brooke inside WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.

WHEELING — There were a lot of unknowns coming into the nightcap of the seventh-annual Sam Andy Classic basketball event inside WesBanco Arena Friday night as Brooke and Wheeling Park combined had one returning starter back from last season.

The debuting Patriots used an 18-4 run to close the first half en route to a 63-46 boys’ high school victory over the Bruins.

“We were a little nervous and excited at the start with five new starters and a bunch of new faces,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said. “J.D. can stroke it. He shot very well in our scrimmages.”

Junior J.D. Williams sparked the second-quarter outburst with 14 of his game-high 30 points, including four bonus bombs.

“We did a lot of trading two’s for three’s and that is not going to get it against a good team like Wheeling Park,” Brooke head coach Adam Shinsky said. “The Williams kid can stroke it, and so can the (Jay) Bordas kid. We worked on it in practice. We wanted to contest their shots every time, but we left Williams open a couple of times and he buried them. We left Bordas open twice and he hit them.

“They hit some shots in our faces. Hat’s off to them. They are a young team like us,” Shinsky said. “We’re getting better with every quarter. We fought.”

Wheeling Park led 35-21 at the half and 48-35 at the end of three quarters. That’s as close as Brooke would get.

Josh Huffman added nine points in support of Williams. Jay Bordas finished with eight.

“We just couldn’t pull away from them until late,” Jebbia said. “Brooke played much better tonight than they did Tuesday against Oak Glen.”

Brooke held the lead for most of the first quarter behind the solid play of Andrew Murdock. The junior netted six of his team-leading 16 points in the quarter, but a basket by Wheeling Park’s Jordan Beck-James put the designated hosts ahead 14-13.

The games were deadlocked at 17 after a Murdock bucket with 6-minutes, 1-second left in the first half, but the Patriots took off and never looked back.

“We need to still work on a few things, but, overall, I’m pleased with the way we played,” Jebbia added. “We even got some good contributions from our bench guys.”

Brooke’s Grant Yost turned in a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The Bruins held a 33-25 advantage off the boards. Both teams recorded 17 turnovers each.