Brooke’s Jameil McKennen puts up a shot with Weir’s Damir Mowder and Teddy Glyptis defending. - Andrew Grimm

After a few seasons of being known for their outside shooting and high-flying offense, this iteration of the Bruins has bought in on defense and used that strong defensive effort to win four of their last five regular season games going into the tournament.

The most recent of those defense-led victories came Thursday night in their regular season finale, a 38-30 triumph on senior night for a season sweep of rival Weir High.

“We’ve been playing really well lately,” Brooke head coach Adam Shinsky said. “This is win No. 8 for us and we lost a couple more games by a point. We lost 98 percent of our scoring coming into this season. These guys have bought in and worked hard and we’re clicking at the right time.

“I’m so proud of Noah (McMahon) and Evan (Urso), our two seniors, this is a great night for them. They stuck with the program for four years and earned their time.”

Weir’s Damir Mowder looks to go to the basket between Brooke’s Grant Yost and Pierce Ferrell. - Andrew Grimm

After trailing 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Bruins (8-14) held the Red Riders (6-16) to single digits in the final three quarters.

The Bruins never pushed the lead into double digits, but never lost it after getting it on a Jameil McKennen triple early in the second quarter.

The Red Riders were able to pull within one early in the fourth, but never get over the hump completely. Down six inside two minutes to go, Weir missed 3-point tries on three-straight possessions.

“It’s a defensive effort every night,” Shinsky said. “The goal was to control the pace, we didn’t have our leading scorer, and it was a great defensive effort.

“We spread the floor out, hit some cuts in transition and got up six. I learned from coach Mel Stephens, my mentor, when you get up six or eight in a game like this, that’s when you put them in the grinder with offense. We ran our offense and took care of the ball and didn’t turn it over.”

SHOOTING — Brooke’s Evan Urso shoots a jumper over Weir High’s Syncere Stevenson during Thursday night’s game inside the Brooke Wellness Center. The Bruins picked up a senior night win, 38-30. - Andrew Grimm

The Bruins were led by 11 points, five rebounds, four blocks, two assists and two steals from Crosby Morris, while Grant Yost had eight points and 12 boards and McKennen and McMahon each tallied seven points.

Urso dished a game-high five assists for Brooke.

For the Red Riders, who made just 11 shots in the game, Damir Mowder finished with a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Justin Kaczmarek hit a couple early 3s to finish with six points, Teddy Glyptis also hitting two 3s to net a like total.

“It was a bad night of basketball,” Weir High head coach Anthony Santangelo said. “It was just one of those nights where nothing would fall. I’m at a loss of words, it was just a bad night overall. We started off well offensively, they went into that zone and we got in a rush and didn’t get to our spots.

“Defensively we hung in there, they missed six foul shots down the stretch and we couldn’t get anything off of it. It was just one of those nights. That’s kind of how its been all year, we either score 60-70 or 25-30, there’s no consistency.

“It was never out of reach, we just had to be a little bit better than we were.”

Both teams are on to tournament time in Class AAA, Region 1.

The Red Riders will travel to North Marion for a third meeting this season with the Huskies next Friday.

“It’s 0-0 now, that’s the beautiful thing,” Santangelo said. “We played a good solid three quarters down there the first time and played them tough at home. It’s March now and anyone can win.”

Brooke is headed to East Fairmont for its tournament opener next Friday.

“It’s been a long time since Brooke won a postseason game, so that’s the goal now,” Shinsky said.

Brooke 38, Weir High 30

W 11-5-7-7 – 30

B 9-10-7-12 – 38

WEIR HIGH (6-16): Kaczmarek 2 0-0 6; Mowder 4 2-2 10; Stevenson 1 0-0 3; Glyptis 2 0-0 6; Jeffers 1 0-0 3; Horstman 0 0-0 0; Grays 1 0-0 2; Douglas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11, 2-2; 30.

BROOKE (8-14): Yost 3 2-2 8; Morris 4 2-4 11; McKennen 2 2-5 7; Urso 0 0-0 0; McMahon 3 0-2 7; Petrella 1 1-2 3; Sperringer 1 0-0 2; Ferrell 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14, 7-19; 38.

3-POINT GOALS: Weir High 6 (Kaczmarek 2, Glyptis 2, Stevenson, Jeffers); Brooke 2 (Morris, McKennen). ASSISTS: Weir High 9 (Jeffers 3); Brooke 8 (Urso 5). REBOUNDS: Weir High 27 (Mowder 11); Brooke 27 (Yost 12). STEALS: Weir High 4 (Jeffers 2); Brooke 3 (Morris 2). BLOCKS: Weir High 1 (Mowder); Brooke 6 (Morris 4). TURNOVERS: Weir High 11; Brooke 10.