Before entering their Schuylkill League game on Saturday night, both Marian and Weatherly faced a layoff from practice and games thanks to "Old Man Winter." The meeting of the two eventually came down to which side could shake off the 'rust' and strike first.

It proved to be the Colts, as they raced out to a 25-5 lead midway through the second frame, on their way to a 49-32 win over the Wreckers.A stifling Colt defense frustrated the younger Weatherly team early on, providing fast-break layups as the lead began to grow. In the first period, eight Ethan Kuczynski points aided the Marian swell, as he nailed consecutive treys from opposing baseline corners to make it 14-0. Luke Reiner's baseline jumper got Weatherly started, but a Dominic Mussoline trey ended the session, giving the Colts a 17-2 lead after eight minutes."On the whole, after being off for as long as we were, I was happy with the way we came out at the beginning of the game," Marian head coach John Patton said, after seeing his team improve to 3-6 on the season. "It's tough to come out here on a Saturday after a layoff like we had, but a win is a win and we'll take it anyway we can get it."In the second, Kyle Swetz started things with a put-back off an offensive rebound. The Colts outrebounded Weatherly 37-27 in the game, which led to two more follows by Mussoline and Mike Vercusky, and after a drive down the lane by Matt Karnish, the 25-5 lead lit the scoreboard.However, that's when things took a positive turn for the Wreckers, as they battled pretty evenly the remainder of the contest, which Weatherly head coach Ron Cann saw as a plus. "I thought we gave them too much in the first quarter. But then we adjusted to their speed and their mentality, and we started to maintain ourselves. We're a young team and right now, I don't think the kids have the utmost confidence in themselves. We, as coaches, have that confidence in them. If they move the ball better, like they did there in the second part of the game, good things happen."Weatherly point guard Scott Coll got things started with a spinning drive down the lane and a Brett Kelly layup followed. At the break, Marian led, though, 27-9.A 10-3 Wrecker run made it 30-19 with 4:29 remaining in the third, as Luke Reiner started to warm up from the outside. A jumper from the baseline and a three-pointer by the junior helped to hack away at his squad's deficit.But Marian showed its toughness, managing a 10-0 run to end the third, with the score 40-19."We knew that they would get hot eventually and we're glad the game turned out the way it did, because Coach Cann does a great job with them and we knew they'd start to hit some shots," Patton mentioned.In the fourth, foul-shooting woes began to creep in for the Colts (11-for-24 for the game). At the same time those issues were occurring for Marian, Weatherly began to find the bottom of the net, as three straight treys cut the lead to 46-28 with just over two minutes remaining. After a Karnish free throw, a Luke Reiner drive made it 47-30, but that was as close as they would get.Marian got solid games from the Agosti's, as Anthony had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, while brother Nico came up with eight rebounds. Vercusky also had a good showing with nine points and seven boards. Kuczynski led the Colts in scoring with 11, while Karnish also had 10 points.For Weatherly, Luke Reiner's 15 led all scorers. He also had six rebounds. Coll, Nick Miller and Josh Reiner added five boards apiece.Marian pulled out a win earlier on with a 45-26 win in the JV game with Josh Inama scoring 11 points.MARIANA. Agosti 3-4-6-10, Karnish 4-1-2-10, Vercusky 3-3-8-9, Woitko 0-0-0-0, N. Agosti 1-0-0-2, Kuczynski 3-3-8-11, Legath 0-0-0-0, Latham 0-0-0-0, Mussoline 2-0-0-5, Wesner 0-0-0-0, Swetz 1-0-0-2, Weber 0-0-0-0, Paluck 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-11-24-49.WEATHERLYBerger 1-0-0-3, Coll 1-2-2-4, Kelly 1-0-0-2, L. Reiner 6-0-0-15, Figas 0-0-2-0, Miller 1-0-0-3, Bizarre 0-0-0-0, J. Reiner 2-0-0-5, Busher 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 12-2-4-32.Marian 17 10 13 9 - 49Weatherly 2 7 10 13 - 32Three pointers: M - Kuczynski 2, Mussoline 1, Karnish 1; W - L. Reiner 3, J. Reiner 1, Miller 1, Berger 1.