WESTVILLE - The Sallisaw boys were without four of their projected starters on Tuesday night, but still managed to come up with a 43-40 win at Westville.

Garrett Langley poured in 14 points and Robert Raborn added 12 as the Black Diamonds picked up a non-conference victory in their season-opener.

Head coach Jeff Chronister opted to rest Matt Oberste, Trey Wiley and Damon Lynch after their involvement in the football team’s state semifinal three days earlier. In addition, senior guard Blake Zinck is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery and is out until January.

“We talked in the preseason about unproven depth and then we had to play basically without four starters,” said Chronister. “We played really well in a tight game on the road. I was very pleased with the decision-making down the stretch.”

Sallisaw led 19-15 at halftime and opened up a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Westville rallied, but was unable to catch the Diamonds.

Oberste came off the bench to play the final 1:13 for defensive purposes and held one of Westville‘s top scorers without a shot in the final moments.

Double figure scorers Langley and Raborn led the way offensively, while Mason Taylor added seven points.

“Garrett Langley is just a steady player. He’s tough to key on because his points come from different spots all over the floor. And Mason Taylor hit some cold-blooded shots late,” said Chronister. “Robert Raborn really got us kick-started with some 3-pointers and that’s important for a young team. If things don’t go well early, it could have been really tough.”

Cord James added four points for Sallisaw, Tyler Clifton had three, Nick Walker two and Jason Fullbright one.

Westville was led by Chandler Smith and Cory Shewmaker with 12 points apiece.

In the girls game, Westville downed the Lady Diamonds 65-34.

Sallisaw’s next basketball game is Friday night at home against Fort Gibson.