For the first eight minutes of last night’s District 11 Class A semifinal boys basketball game, the Weatherly Wreckers stood toe to toe with top-seeded Bethlehem Christian. But the hot-shooting Panthers eventually pulled away for an 86-52 victory.

In the first period, there were three lead changes. A three-point bank shot by Nico Saldukas put Weatherly ahead 3-2 before BC grabbed the lead on two buckets by Gabe Transue, who torched the nets for a game-high 39 points.

Down by a score of 11-9, the Wreckers climbed back into the lead.

Ian McKeegan began the rally with a driving layup off of a steal and added a free throw. Corbin Wagner nailed a three-ball from outside the key before Deion Swift got two back for the Panthers on a driving layup. McKeegan’s layup gave Weatherly its largest lead at 17-13 with 2:35 to go in the first quarter, but a baseline three from Myles Harris and a putback by Preston Rex regained the lead for the Panthers at 18-17 to end the first period.

“We thought our man defense would be better against their athleticism, which all their five starters had,” said Wreckers’ head coach Luke Medico. “But they are the better team and they just wore us down after the first period.”

Weatherly took a 19-18 lead in the first 30 seconds of the second period on a put back by John Donish and three minutes later, a layup by McKeegan knotted the score at 23-23. Transue’s basket with half a period gone lifted the Panthers ahead by two and from that point on, Bethlehem Christian never relinquished the lead.

Trailing by nine with at the 1:30 mark, Matt Adler cut the lead to six with a three-pointer, but that was the closest the Wreckers would get for the rest of the game.

The second half was all BC. Ahead 39-26 beginning the third period, the Panthers outscored the designated visiting team 11-1 in the first three minutes. They dominated the boards on both ends of the court and Transue continued to pile up his points.

“When you don’t defend the three-point shot against them, they showed us what can happen,” said Medico, referring to the five three-pointers scored by the Panthers in the period.

Adding to their defensive challenges against the Panthers, the shooting accuracy fell off for the Wreckers, who shot just 19 percent from the floor in the third.

The rest of the game followed the same pattern with BC not only preventing any idea of a Weatherly comeback, but increasing its lead into the mercy rule.

“I told them there are no failures in basketball and in life unless you put your heads down and you keep doing the same things that don’t make you better,” Medico said. “Losers do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

“We need to work on some things and it won’t necessarily be a quick turnaround. Our goal is to get back to districts next year and put ourselves in position to win it.”

Weatherly was led by McGeehan’s 15 points. Saldukas and Wagner added 10 each.

GOLDEN GUARDS … The Wreckers’ junior guard combination of Ian McGeehan and Corbin Wagner played an outstanding game by penetrating the paint on driving layups, hitting a few long threes and making the Panthers work hard to set up their half-court offense.

TITLE TIME… Bethlehem Christian will now play No. 2 seed Lincoln Leadership Academy for the district championship at a site and a date to be determined.

IT’S NOT OVER TIL IT’S OVER … Weatherly will now play Nativity in the 1A consolation game. The winner will advance to a state play-in game against an opponent to be named later.

WEATHERLY

McKeegan 5-4-5-15, Saldukas 4-0-0-10, Wagner 4-0-0-10, Donish 4-1-1-9, Adler 2-1-2-7, Stauffer 0-1-2-1, Kokinda 0-0-0-0, Davis 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-7-10-52.

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN

G. Transue 16-5-5-39, Swift 6-6-8-20, Harris 7-0-0-18, Kasper 3-0-0-7, R. Rex 1-0-0-2, Wescoe 0-0-0-0, Brown 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 33-11-13-86.

Weatherly 17 9 17 9 - 52

Beth. Ch. 18 21 33 14 - 86

Three-pointers: Weatherly - Adler 2, Saldukas 2, Wagner 2, McKeegan 1; Bethlehem Christian - Harris 4, G.Transue 2, Swift 2, Kasper 1.

Records: Weatherly (14-11); Bethlehem Christian (24-2).