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When things are not going exactly as planned, a successful team will have a leader who steps in and rights the ship.
For Highland's boys basketball team in their non-conference battle with Weston last week it was four year starter JR Linscheid.
"We were out of sync at the start but JR got us stabilized," said Highland coach Paul Wedig. After Linscheid stepped up, the Cardinals went on to turn back the Eagles 74-45. He helped them from a 34-25 halftime lead to a comfortable 40-20 scoring difference the second half.
"JR played his heart out," Wedig said.
Four Cardinals ended up in double figures.  JR Linscheid led with 17 followed by his brother, Spencer, who had 15, Mitchell Welsh, who added 14 and Derek Miller, who contributed 10.
The game had a unique twist to it as there was no JV game for the varsity to follow. Instead the game had a 7 p.m opening tip and was the only show in town.
"It upset our regular game routine which may had contributed to our slow start," Wedig said. "We usually watch the first half of the junior varsity game then go in the locker room at halftime to get suited up. Tonight we got to the gym, dressed and went right to it."
The Cardinals started in their pressure defense but the Eagles handled it well early.
"We only led by nine at halftime," Wedig said.
But the second half the pressure was not Weston's friend.
"Our pressure caught up with them," Wedig said. "We rotated all the kids in and were able to keep fresh legs in the game."
Wedig said Mitchell Welsh had a knack of being in the right place at the right time most of the night.
"He got a couple key steals and scored on a couple fast breaks," Wedig said. "He also had a couple nice moves to score in the post."
Cedric Littlebear led Weston with 11 points while Harrison Boland contributed 10.
The Cardinals enter the break with a 6-2 record. They resume play January 3 when the host Riverdale in a non-conference game.
SCORE BY HALVES
Weston 25 20 45
Highland 34 40 74
BOX SCORE
WESTON 45: (fg-ft-tp) Lawrence 4-0-9, Moely 1-0-2, Littlebear 5-1-11, Wagaman 1-0-2, Boland 4-1-10, Scherbert 3-1-7, Gher 1-2-4 Totals 19-5/7-45. Fouls-10
HIGHLAND 75: S. Linscheid 5-5-15, Welsh 6-1-14, B. Drury 2-0-4, D. Drury 2-0-4, JR Linscheid 8-1-17, Michek 3-0-6, Minter 20-4, Miller 5-0-10. Totals 33-7/10-75. Fouls-13
3 point goals:
W-Boland 1, Lawrence 1
H-Welsh 1