Westfield coach Shane Sumpter said the magic word for his team Friday night was “consistency.”
The Shamrocks used a balanced effort on both offense and defense to get a hard-fought win at Hamilton Heights, by the score of 66-61. Westfield had three players in double figures, and held off a furious charge by the Huskies in the game’s final two minutes to secure the victory.
“Great game,” said Sumpter. “I don’t think anybody wanted their money back tonight.”
Westfield made the game’s first run, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead. Aaron Bennett scored five points of that run, on a putback and then a 3-pointer, which would be a familiar sight for Shamrock fans during the contest.
Sterling Weatherford single-handedly brought Heights back, as he scored five points to tie the game at 7-7. The remainder of the quarter saw a nice back-and-forth between the teams, and ended with the ‘Rocks up 13-12. Max Beale helped the Huskies out with a late 3-pointer, while Ian Kristensen got going for Westfield, scoring four points.
Bennett was still going in the second period, draining two more 3s. A three-point play from Jonah Welch put the Shamrocks ahead 22-18, but Heights quickly tied the game again with baskets from Weatherford and Drayden Thomas. Westfield led 27-24 late in the second half, but Caymn Lutz made a 3 at the buzzer, sending both teams into their locker rooms tied at 27-27.
The ‘Rocks began to pull away in the third quarter, with Kristensen scoring eight points. The key moment was the beginning of the period, when Westfield outscored the Huskies 9-3. Bennett opened the quarter with his fourth 3-pointer of the game, and Welch helped out with another three-point play.
I thought we had a stretch there where we got some good stops on the defensive end and I thought we got some good baskets and some easy buckets on our end,” said Sumpter.
Heights coach Chad Ballenger admitted that the third quarter was when “things broke apart a little bit” for his team.
“We scored enough points to win again,” said Ballenger. “We gave up way too many easy buckets.”
The Shamrocks remained in control for most of the fourth quarter, leading by 56-44 with under three minutes to go, and 60-49 with under two minutes left. But Max Wahl sparked the Huskies’ late run, making a 3-pointer and then immediately scoring off a steal. Wahl would hit two more 3-pointers in the game’s final minute to keep things interesting, but Westfield was able to stay a few points ahead thanks to free throws – the ‘Rocks were 6-of-8 during the final 1:19.
Kristensen led Westfield, and all scorers, with 20 points. Bennett totaled five 3-pointers (he made one more in the fourth) for 18 points, and reached double-double territory by grabbing 11 rebounds.
“You’d never know it, but he’s one of our leading rebounders,” said Sumpter. “He’s been that all year. He just has a nose for the ball. But he was big for us tonight.”
Welch added 13 points, and was all over the stat line with seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Zach Banks made four steals.
Weatherford scored 15 points for Heights. Wahl and Lutz each added 13 points, with Lutz also grabbing eight rebounds and Wahl handing out four assists.
The Huskies are 6-11 and travel to Lawrence North tonight for a 7:30 p.m. game. Westfield is now 5-13, and hosts Western Boone on Tuesday.
Westfield 66, Heights 61
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Zach Banks 0-3 2-4 2 3
Aaron Bennett 6-10 1-2 18 0
Josh Van Dyke 2-5 4-4 8 1
Jonah Welch 5-9 3-4 13 5
Ian Kristensen 8-18 4-6 20 0
Caleb Welch 1-2 3-4 5 1
Totals 22-47 17-24 66 10
Westfield 3-point shooting (5-13) Bennett 5-7, Kristensen 0-5, Van Dyke 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (28) Bennett 11, J. Welch 7, C. Welch 4, Kristensen 4, Banks 2.
Heights FG FT TP PF
Max Wahl 5-14 0-0 13 2
Caymn Lutz 4-8 3-4 13 1
Noah Wallace 0-0 0-0 0 0
Austin Sauerteig 0-1 0-0 0 0
Sterling Weatherford 7-17 0-0 15 4
Drayden Thomas 2-9 4-6 8 2
Tyler Wiltermood 3-3 0-0 6 1
Max Beale 2-3 0-0 6 2
Caleb Bean 0-0 0-0 0 3
Dawson Phifer 0-1 0-0 0 2
Totals 23-56 7-10 61 17
Heights 3-point shooting (8-18) Wahl 3-6, Lutz 2-2, Beale 2-2, Weatherford 1-5, Thomas 0-1, Phifer 0-1, Sauerteig 0-1.
Heights rebounds (26) Lutz 8, Thomas 5, Weatherford 4, Wiltermood 4, Wahl 3, Beale 1, Sauerteig 1.
Score by quarters
Westfield 13 14 16 23 – 66
Heights 12 15 10 24 – 61