XENIA — Despite playing its second game in a 48-hour span, Sidney didn’t wear out in a Miami Valley League game on Thursday and was too much for Xenia to keep up with.

The Yellow Jackets quickly built a lead, extended it to 15 points by halftime and enlarged it further in the second half in a 69-47 win at Phil Anderson Gymnasium.

Sidney, which beat Tecumseh by 16 points on the road on Tuesday, flowed well offensively and defensively. The team also rebounded well and prevented a poor-shooting Xenia squad from getting many second-chance looks.

“We wanted to keep them out of the lane and did a decent job at that,” Sidney coach John Willoughby said. “… I thought Ethan (New) and Mitchell (Davis) did a good job inside, and Jayce (Daniel) grabbed some rebounds. Jayce has been rebounding well all year.”

And unlike both its first two games, the Yellow Jackets (2-1, 1-1 MVL) didn’t have any slow periods offensively.

Junior guard A’Zon Steele scored 22 points, junior guard Julius Spradling scored 20 and Daniel, a junior guard, scored in double figures for the first time this season with 16 points.

“It was good to see him hit some shots,” Willoughby said of Daniel. “He’s our second and third threat, and he did a good job at that tonight. He got a shot off early, hit a 3 early, and when you hit one early, you get confidence and think you’ll hit the rest of them. That’s the way he played.”

Steele is averaging an MVL-best 21 points per game, and Willoughby said he is pleased with Steele’s start.

Spradling scored eight points in the squad’s opener against Troy but has been in double figures the last two games. Willoughby said he’s been more aggressive trying to penetrate and is drawing fouls.

Spradling made 8-of-10 free throws on Thursday and made 7-of-8 against Tecumseh on Tuesday.

“He is an aggressive player,” Willoughby said. “We like him for his defense, too, and it’s a benefit for us when he’s out on the floor. I thought he did a good job getting the ball to the rim tonight and made some good passes.

“As a team, that’s something we’re still working on. We need to do a little bit better with our ball handling and our passing decisions. We were sloppy at times tonight, and while you can get like that in games like this sometimes, we’ve got to be better with it.”

Willoughby also credited senior guard Tucker Herron for playing well off the bench, especially defensively.

“We trust Tucker doing what we call glue work,” Willoughby said. “Good defense, getting the loose balls, getting those rebounds, and making correct passes. That’s a big thing. Our subs cannot turn the ball over when they touch it.”

Herron added four points on Thursday, while New, a junior forward, finished with five.

Daniel scored six and Steele and Spradling each scored five in the first quarter to help the squad take a 16-8 lead. The three continued hitting jumpers and making a few shots on drives in the second quarter to help extend the lead to 33-18 at halftime.

The Yellow Jackets led 52-30 by the end of the third and increased their lead to as many as 25 in the fourth.

Sidney made nine 3-pointers. Steele made four, Daniel made three and Spradling made two. Xenia (0-2, 0-2) made one 3.

Alijah Withers led Xenia with 17 points, seven of which came in the fourth quarter.

The game was the second varsity contest in a girls/boys doubleheader. Sidney’s girls squad beat the Buccaneers 54-24.

The Yellow Jackets’ freshman and junior varsity squads played at Xenia on Wednesday.

The games were moved to Wednesday and Thursday due to Xenia hosting a wrestling tournament this weekend, and due to the Buccaneers’ girls and boys basketball squads being scheduled to play a Michigan team at Wright State University’s Nutter Center on Saturday morning.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.