Guarded by Seabury senior guard Mikey Wycoff (2), Veritas sophomore guard Trey Huslig (3) looks for a passing lane during their crosstown clash on Friday at Seabury.

Near the end of the first half Friday, Bishop Seabury junior point guard Zach McDermott called an inbounds play that his boys basketball team practiced throughout the week from underneath his team’s basket.

McDermott slowly watched the play develop before he lobbed a pass in the air for senior guard Mikey Wycoff, who rocked the rim with a one-handed slam. It put the exclamation mark on a dominant first half and eventual 70-45 victory over Veritas Christian at Dillon Gymnasium.

With a big crowd for the crosstown clash, the Seahawks (5-2, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A) finished the last 4 1/2 minutes of the first quarter on a 13-2 run, which included eight points from Wycoff and a 3-pointer before the buzzer from McDermott.

Wycoff, who was honored during halftime for crossing the 1,000 career point benchmark earlier this week, looked like he was chasing another thousand points. The 6-foot-1 Wycoff scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the first half, punishing defenders who didn’t have a hand in his face.

“Setting the tone early is one of the things that we do best,” said Seabury senior Thomas DiZerega, who had 11 points and seven rebounds. “I know last game with Pembroke (Hill), we did well. Just getting out and jumping on people at the start of the game sets the pace.”

The Eagles (3-4) were held scoreless for a four-minute stretch in the second quarter, struggling to move the ball with passes or dribbles against Seabury’s zone defenses. Senior forward Weston Flory led Veritas with 13 points while sophomore Tucker Flory added 10.

“People seem to have trouble with our speed and length than anything,” Seabury coach Ashley Battles said. “We don’t want you to play at 10 feet and in. We want you to play at 20 feet and out.”

Veritas coach Carl Huslig said he liked his team’s chances if they kept the scores in the 40s and Seabury junior guard Bansi King ended any of those hopes in the third quarter when he heated up from beyond the 3-point line. Showing a willingness to shoot from the parking lot or even a different zip code, King swished three straight triples and scored 13 of his team’s 15 points in the quarter.

Each time the Eagles looked like they were going to start a quick run — which included four straight points by senior Michael Rask — the 6-foot-1 King responded with a big bucket with his teammates so confident that they would run back on defense before it dropped through the net.

“I really can’t think when I shoot,” said King, who scored 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting. “I just let it go.”

The Seahawks led by as many as 28 points before emptying the bench in the final minutes. That’s when Wycoff’s dunk off of the inbounds play turned into the second-loudest ovation from the crowd. It was only outmatched in the final minute when Seabury senior Oliver Xu entered with the crowd chanting for him.

Xu was promptly fouled on the next possession, but missed his only free throw.

“Man, Oliver had his opportunity,” Battles said. “Oliver is from China. He has worked really hard in the last three years at this school. He deserves playing time. Believe it or not, he helps us in practice. It’s getting guys in there like that, at a school with no cuts, that makes it so worth it.”

VERITAS (45)

Weston Flory 4-8 4-7 13, Trey Huslig 0-6 3-4 3, Michael Rask 4-10 0-0 8, Peyton Donohoe 1-4 0-0 3, Tucker Flory 5-9 0-2 10, Quinton Donohoe 0-3 0-1 0, Jackson Rau 0-0 0-0 0, Kammal Dowdell 3-11 1-2 8, Calvin Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Weinhold 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 8-16 45.

SEABURY (70)

Mikey Wycoff 9-17 3-4 23, Zach McDermott 4-12 4-5 13, Thomas DiZerega 5-7 1-3 11, Bansi King 7-14 2-3 19, Austin Gaumer 0-2 0-0 0, Max Easter 2-3 0-0 4, Dawson Chindamo 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Green 0-0 0-0 0, Amir Shami 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Hornberger 0-0 0-0 0, Oliver Xu 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 27-58 10-16 70.

Veritas 10 8 10 17 — 45

Seabury 23 18 15 14 — 70

Three-point goals: Veritas 3-15 (W. Flory, Q. Donohoe, Dowdell); Seabury 6-24 (King 3, Wycoff 2, McDermott). Fouled out: Gaumer. Turnovers: Veritas 17, Seabury 11.