The weather has been frightful lately, but the play of the Northeast High and Long Reach’s boys basketball teams has been oh, so delightful this season.

The Eagles and 13th-ranked Lightning remained undefeated Tuesday with victories at the James T. Bogle Invitational at Glen Burnie. Long Reach defeated Broadneck, 74-58, while Northeast held off Atholton, 62-56.

Northeast’s best start since the 2019-20 season – the Eagles are 8-0 – does not come as a surprise to coach Roger O’Dea considering his squad’s strong finish to last season and the influx of talented newcomers from a highly-successful junior varsity squad.

“We’ve been working for this,” said O’Dea, whose squad will face the 7-0 Lightning, Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. on the final day of the longtime Anne Arundel County holiday mixer. “Last year, we rebuilt. Our JV went 19-2 and won the county championship. Our varsity won 10 out of the last 12 games and a playoff game. We started off last year 0-4 or 0-5 or 1-6 and then really got it going on and put it together during the summer league and summer camp and went from there.

“You don’t have to do a lot of coaching when you’ve got a Cam Albury. His brother (Jaylin) was the player of the year back in the 2020 season, and he’s following right in his footsteps. He’s been around me since he was 7-8 years old.”

Facing a talented ballhawking backcourt in Atholton’s Amir Shaheed, Christian Jackson and Peyton Inabinet, the younger Albury produced 14 points and a handful of assists while consistently breaking the opponent’s full court press, especially late as the Eagles looked to close out their eighth straight victory.

“We’re playing together as a team,” Albury said. “Last year, we weren’t really connecting with each other. We played all spring and summer together, so our chemistry is definitely at a hundred right now. We’re playing together now. We all trust each other. We just all stand together.”

That kinship translated into a balanced offensive attack that was paced by Shamar Johnson’s 18 points and 16 rebounds and included 17 points from Jadyss Fifer and eight from Chase Buttry against the Raiders, who received a game-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers, from the sharp-shooting Shaheed.

“Turnovers, rebounding, you name it, just didn’t get it done today,” said Atholton coach Jared Albert, whose 3-4 squad kept the contest close after falling behind 17-10 after one quarter of play but was plagued by 20 turnovers. “We’re just not consistent. We’ve played some very good teams, but we’ve got to fix the inconsistency. We’ve got to value the ball better, and we’ve got to board.”

Long Reach forced the Bruins (3-4) into 22 miscues to hold off numerous runs by Broadneck before putting the contest away with an 8-0 run in the final 2 minutes, 30 seconds of regulation.

The Lightning, especially RJ Barnes, Jr. (20 points, six rebounds) and Christian Dean (20 points, five rebounds), turned many of those turnovers into points in transition, including six in the final eight minutes of action.

“Everyone’s sticking together on defense,” said Barnes, who exploded for 11 fourth quarter points. “Even when things get tough on us, we persevere. Even though like coach always says, there’s going to be mistakes, but what you see is effort, not giving up on plays. I love it. I love it, especially when games get close and we just keep pressing and getting steals. It’s so much fun.”

That frenetic pace on defense extends to Long Reach’s offense as well as the Lightning scored in transition on several occasions off of made Broadneck baskets.

“That’s our style,” Long Reach coach Andrew Lazzor said. “That’s what we do. We have athletes. We have guys who are smart with the ball and are willing to put in the work. That’s just what we practice every day. It’s to create tempo. Hopefully, the more possessions we create . . . the better off we should be in the long run.”

The Bruins kept the contest close much of the way, including trimming a 13-point second quarter deficit to four points by halftime before taking their last lead of the game at 34-33 with 5:58 left in the third quarter.

The Lightning, however, closed the quarter on a 20-9 run for a 53-43 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of action. Six of those points came in close fashion as the team’s defense produced three straight steals against Broadneck’s press offense.

Amare Jeffries (16 points), Jalen Carter (15 points) and Jordan Brown (11 points) each reached double figures offensively for the Bruins, who face Atholton Wednesday at noon.

“We’re still figuring out who we are as a team and at this point, finding a way to win has escaped us against some of the better teams,” Bruins coach John Williams said. “We’ve got a lot of guys with their first varsity experience. I think that proved to be pretty obvious there in the second half. It’s hard to beat a team like that when you’re shooting yourself in the foot.”

BOGLE INVITATIONAL

AT GLEN BURNIE

NORTHEAST 62, ATHOLTON 56

Atholton - Amir Shaheed 25, Ayinde Deleon 7, Christian Jackson 11, Kyle Duffie 5, Ian Morton 5, Chris Martin 3. Totals 21 7-11 56.

Northeast - Shamar Johnson 18, Jadyss Fifer 17, Cameron Albury 14, Chase Buttry 8, Anthony Sheehan 3, Johnnie Hutton 2. Totals 22 16-24 62.

Atholton 10 14 14 18 - 56

Northeast 17 13 15 17 - 62

NO. 13 LONG REACH 74, BROADNECK 58

Long Reach - Christian Dean 20, RJ Barnes, Jr. 20, Ethan Maokhamphiou 14, Jayden Saunders 9, Cameron Valentine 8, Brendan Diggs 3. Totals 30 11-17 74.

Broadneck - Amare Jeffries 16, Jalen Carter 15, Jordan Brown 11, Michael Schwob 9, Shawn Lewis 7. Totals 19 14-17 58.

Long Reach 19 13 21 21 - 74

Broadneck 13 15 15 15 - 58