It isn’t the best of times for the Weatherly and Shenandoah boys basketball programs.

The Wreckers are gamely trying to mesh the pieces as their numbers aren’t quite at the top of the scale. The roster features 11 freshmen and sophomores among its 15 players.

Not long ago, the Blue Devils were in the foray for Schuylkill League division titles and District 11 championships.

But the two team entered Monday’s game with just three victories between them.

Despite having an extremely young and inexperienced team, one thing that’s for certain is Weatherly athletes always hustle.

That was on full display last night as Weatherly upset Shenandoah, 53-40. The win was just the second of the season for the Wreckers, and the first on their home floor in over three years.

“You know we have some pretty good players, but we are looking to get better at our fundamentals.” said first-year Weatherly head coach Luke Medico. “All these kids can shoot. Where we have been trying to get better at is boxing out and rebounding; that’s what our issues are.

“But we did a really good job of that tonight; much better than we’ve done most of the season.”

Where the Wreckers also excelled was in their floor game, as they were never fazed by Shenandoah Valley’s full-court pressure. In fact, the winners were forcing the Blue Devils into a roller derby without skates, causing them to cough up the ball an unsightly 26 times.

While Shenandoah was struggling to hold onto the ball, Weatherly was distributing passes, and looking for the open man.

The end result featured a trio of Wrecker players in double-digits. Sophomore Niko Saldukas drove the Blue Devils dizzy with a 17-point outing and eight rebounds, including four on the offensive side of the glass.

Two other sophomores - Ian McKeegan and Corbin Wagner - added 15 and 10 points, respectively.

“Our plan was to come out and play defense,” Medico said. “We had that defensive intensity, and I felt that was the difference. This was the first time that we executed like that all year.”

The Wreckers broke free from a tight first quarter to blitz Shenandoah with a huge second quarter.

Holding a scant 11-9 lead, Weatherly cranked up its best offensive quarter of the game to open up a 30-15 advantage at the half.

On the offensive side, Weatherly got a huge lift from its three top scorers as McKeegan knocked down a trey and a pair of buckets, Wagner flung in a triple and a deuce and Saldukas sank a pair of buckets all off the offensive glass. Meanwhile, its hustle on the defensive end forced Shenandoah Valley into seven turnovers in the period.

Weatherly still led comfortably after three quarters (40-27) and pushed the margin to 47-30 early in the fourth.

The Blue Devils showed a brief sign of life as their best player - Brayden Maksimik - drilled in nine unanswered points to cut the deficit to 47-36 with 3:43 left.

Medico quickly called time to regroup his forces.

“I think maybe they got a little nervous,” said the coach. “This was their first home win in about three years. So I wanted to settle them down.”

The Wreckers responded by reeling off six-straight points to quell any hopes of a comeback by Shenandoah.

FOR THE RECORD … The Wreckers improved to 2-9 overall and 1-4 in the league. SV fell to 2-11 overall and 1-4 in the division.

DECEIVING NUMBERS … Weatherly got out-rebounded 40-30, but had a big night on the offensive glass with 14 second-chance points.

NOT INTIMIDATED … Shenandoah’s 6-fot-7 John Silvestre had 15 rebounds, but the Wreckers kept challenging him by driving to the paint.

UNSUNG … Weatherly received solid play from senior Austin Lamonica and junior John Donish, who both came up big at key times either with rebounds or strong defense.

JV … Shenandoah won the opener, 61-39. David Burrows had 15 points. For the Wreckers, Brandon Love scored 16 points, while Chance Stauffer added 10.

SHENANDOAH

Maksimik 7-2-2-18, Silvestre 2-2-4-7, Salguero 3-1-3-7, Boris 2-0-0-6, Burke 1-0-0-2, Monaghan 0-0-0-0, Taylor 0-0-0-0, Burrows 0-0-0-0, McCole 0-0-0-0, Teeter 0-0-0-0, Rivero 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-5-9-43.

WEATHERLY

Saldukas 6-4-4-17, McKeegan 6-0-0-15, Wagner 4-1-4-10, Lamonica 3-0-0-7, Donish 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 21-5-9-53.

Shenandoah 9 6 12 13 – 40

Weatherly 14 16 10 13 - 53

Three-pointers: Shenandoah - Maksimik 2, Boris 2, Silvestre 1. Weatherly - Wagner 3, McKeegan 1, Saldukas 1, Lamonica 1.