After the excitement of winning a first-ever sectional championship, the Westfield boys basketball team is now feeling the anticipation of playing in a first-ever regional.
The Shamrocks travel to the Berry Bowl on Saturday to play in the Class 4A Logansport regional. Westfield takes on Homestead in the second semi-final game, which is set to tip off around noon. It will follow the first semi-final, a 10 a.m. contest between Kokomo and Fort Wayne Snider. The winners play for the championship at 8 p.m.
LONG TIME COMING
The Shamrocks were in celebration mode last weekend, and why not? Westfield won three games to claim the difficult Sectional 8 at Noblesville, beating Fishers (ranked No. 2 in the IBCA coaches poll and Class 4A Associated Press ratings) 62-44 in the first round, Hamilton Southeastern 77-50 in the semi-finals and Carmel (AP No. 3 and IBCA No. 4) 59-54 in the championship game. The ‘Rocks are No. 11 in the IBCA rankings.
Shamrocks coach Shane Sumpter woke up Sunday morning to find 54 unread text messages on his phone, and was still getting congratulations as of Tuesday afternoon.
“This was for everybody that’s ever played and coached at Westfield,” said Sumpter. He also said the sectional title was a “long time coming for our school and our community.”
Once Westfield, now 21-6, got back to school, there was a small pep session. Then on Monday, it was back to normal: Practicing and getting ready for the regional. The ‘Rocks practiced at the Berry Bowl on Wednesday and had a team dinner in Logansport as well.
Westfield will play a Homestead team that is IBCA ranked No. 3, AP ranked No. 4, and 22-5 for the season. The Spartans won Sectional 6 at Huntington North in similar fashion to the Shamrocks. Homestead beat the host Vikings 56-43 in the first round, cruised past New Haven 81-53 in the semi-finals, then toughed out the championship over Fort Wayne South Side 51-48, defending the title the Spartans won last year at Columbia City. Homestead has won 13 sectional titles.
The Spartans and Westfield played each other during the regular season, back on Dec. 11 at the Southport Classic. Homestead won that meeting, edging out the Shamrocks 58-55.
“It seems like it’s been forever ago,” said Sumpter.
Westfield led 40-39 going into the fourth quarter of the regular-season game, but the Spartans poured in 19 points in that final period to get the win.
“They’re a very good basketball team,” said Sumpter. “It was a pretty close game throughout. They made the plays down the stretch.”
Senior Fletcher Loyer scored eight points for Homestead during the fourth quarter, and wound up leading his team with 22 points. Westfield senior Braden Smith led all scorers with 30 points. Smith and Loyer will be teammates next year, as both men have committed to Purdue University.
Loyer is by far the Spartans’ leading scorer, averaging 26.9 points per game. He also leads in rebounds (5.4), assists (3.6) and steals (2.2) per contest as well.
Homestead’s second-leading scorer is another senior, Andrew Leeper. He contributes 9.6 points per game and leads the Spartans in blocked shots with 1.3 per game. Leeper is a player the ‘Rocks are all too familiar with, as he scored 20 points against Westfield. Junior Kyron Kaopuiki averages 8.0 points per game, he scored 10 points at Southport.
Smith is Westfield’s leading scorer with 19.0 points per game, and also is on top of the assist (6.1) and steals (1.9) lists. Senior Cam Haffner is next, as he averages 16.1 points per contest. Junior Alex Romack has rapidly improved over the season, and is the Shamrocks’ leading rebounder with 7.0 per game; he also contributes 13.1 points.
UNIVERSITY-TRITON CENTRAL
University made some history of its own last Saturday when the Trailblazers won Sectional 42 at Park Tudor. It was the first time University had won a sectional in Class 2A, this after having won four 1A sectionals between 2006 and 2018.
The ‘Blazers edged out Covenant Christian 53-51 in an overtime semi-final before beating Heritage Christian 67-57 in the championship game. University is now 15-9 and will play Triton Central at the Greenfield-Central regional at noon this Saturday. No. 9-ranked Eastern Hancock and Southmont play the first semi-final at 10 a.m., with the championship set for 8 p.m.
“There is no doubt winning our first 2A sectional is a giant accomplishment for this team and our school, especially considering how difficult it always is to navigate through Sectional 42,” said Trailblazers coach Brandon Lafferman. “When we moved up from 1A to 2A three years ago, I knew it would be extremely challenging to ever get out of a sectional again. Due to that, we have made it a point to try to play a challenging schedule to prepare the team for these types of tough roads.”
Lafferman will get another new experience when his team takes on Triton Central. The coach said that in his nine years at University, this will be the first time his team will play the Tigers.
Lafferman watched film of Triton Central, and called the Trojans a very well-coached and disciplined team on both sides of the floor.
“It is clear they had great game plans to navigate through their sectional and beat some pretty good opponents,” said Lafferman. “They are very tough on the defensive end and have a balanced attack offensively. In order for us to come away with a win over Triton Central, we will need to really control the pace of the game and move the ball on the offensive end for great shots.”
The Tigers are 13-11 and defended their Sectional 44 championship at South Ripley, having won at Milan last year. Triton Central beat North Decatur 62-57 in the semi-finals and the host Raiders 40-35 in the championship.
Aiden Lindsey is the Tigers’ leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points per game. Two seniors also are contributing double figures in points: Josiah Miller at 10.8 per game and Caleb Miller has 10.2 per contest. Blair is the leading rebounder (5.6), while Miller leads in steals (2.0). Senior Alex Crouse hands out 3.8 assists per game.
As for University, sophomore Sabien Cain is the top scorer at 16.0 points per game, and also leads in assists (2.6) and steals (1.9). Senior Larry Pierce contributes 13.0 points and is the top rebounder at 4.8 per game.