SOUTH PASADENA— Before the start of Rio Hondo League play on Wednesday, the Blair boys basketball team hadn’t played a game in more than two weeks due to the Eaton fire that broke out on Jan. 7. The Pasadena Unified School District paused all sports activities until this week.

But the proverbial rust from such a long break in the basketball season never set in for Blair as it finished its first two league games with victories, including Friday’s statement win on the road at South Pasadena.

Blair held off South Pasadena’s fourth-quarter rally to earn a 94-79 victory, improving to 9-7 overall and 2-0 in league play.

Blair opened league with a 94-74 win over Monrovia on Wednesday.

“This was one of our big wins, one we’ve been circling on our calendar for a long time,” Blair coach Devon Richardson said. “We wanted to represent our community and I think this was just another way of taking a lot of their minds off (wildfires) and focusing it on (basketball).”

Blair relied on sophomores Nassir Freeman, Josh Sheran and Jaleel Hunter in the second half to provide a much-needed spark as the Tigers focused all of their defensive attention on Blair’s star, junior guard Timmy Anderson.

Sheran, who finished with 18 points and three rebounds off the bench, and Freeman, who scored five of his nine points in the fourth quarter, helped the Vikings maintain the lead for much of the second half. Hunter scored 22 points, 12 of which came in the second half, and powered the 16-4 fourth-quarter run that ultimately handed the Tigers (12-7, 3-1) their first league loss.

Even though Anderson finished with a game-high 34 points to go with five assists, it was not lost on Richardson what his sophomore trio meant to the outcome.

“I think those guys won us the game,” Richardson said. “Those guys are our secret weapon. As they go, we go. (Hunter) got it together and let it click. He’s another special one.”

Throughout most of the first quarter, South Pasadena seniors Oni Balogun and Jack Madison took turns attacking the paint and boards, causing the Vikings to give up a lot of second-chance points. Those second-chance opportunities allowed Arias to pour in eight first-quarter points and helped the Tigers build up a seven-point lead with 2:18 remaining in the first quarter.

But the Vikings responded in the final two minutes with a 9-2 run before a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer put the Tigers up 19-16.

The Vikings relied on nine-point outbursts from Hunter and Anderson in the second quarter along with junior center Manny Macias’ ferocity on the defensive boards to build a seven-point lead midway through the second quarter.

Anderson, who entered Friday’s contest averaging 32 points per game, struggled from the field in the first half, hitting 4 of 14 shots, but still managed 15 first-half points to give the Vikings a 40-31 lead at the half.

Balogun and Madison scored 19 and 18 points, respectively.