Weston Ranch High coach Chris Teevan had concerns about his team Friday.
Never mind that his Cougars crushed visiting East Union with a 67-50 in the Valley Oak League affair.
“We’re soft,” said Teevan. “We’ll be exposed (in the VOL) unless we step up.”
Weston Ranch (2-0 in league, 11-3 overall) was a tough matchup physically for the Lancers.
“They’re big and they have the ability to pour in a lot of points in a hurry,” said East Union coach Ryan Tarr.
Evidence of that took place in the opening period.
After Lancer guard Malik Thomas drained a 3-pointer, the Cougars responded by going on a 14-2 run.
D’Angelo Finley paved the way, scoring on a put-back and a two-handed dunk. Fred Lavender followed that up with an open-court one-handed jam.
Finley, who had a game-high 26 points — he also had five rebounds, two blocks and two steals — kicked off the second quarter by scoring on an in-bound lob.
East Union (0-2, 7-5) got into a groove offensively shortly before the break. Gyse Hulsebosch delivered on a pair of treys while also converting on three straight free throws. He led the Lancers with 20 points.
Jaelen Ragsdale and Finley did most of the damage for Weston Ranch in the third. Ragsdale netted 12 of his 24 points in the quarter, nailing a 3, converting on a three-point play, and closing out the run with a drive to the basket.
Down 55-36 at the start of the final period, East Union put together an 11-2 rally at the midway point.
Hulsebosch’s midrange jumper at the 3:41 mark closed the deficit to 61-50.
The Cougars finished out the game with six unanswered points. Included was Finley’s closeout dunk through traffic.
Lavender, meanwhile, finished with 10 points and newcomer Anthony Booker collected seven boards and had two blocked shots for Weston Ranch.