After two weeks off, the Westfield boys basketball team was back in action on Saturday.
After the game, Shamrocks coach Shane Sumpter had this to say: “We looked like a team that hadn’t played in a few weeks.”
Westfield had to scratch its way to a win, but got the job done, holding off Victory College Prep (formerly Indianapolis Lighthouse) 58-54 at The Rock. The Shamrocks, ranked No. 9 in Class 4A, thus kept their record perfect; they are now 7-0.
The ‘Rocks led 13-12 after the first quarter, with Braden Smith making two 3-pointers and Matt Penley adding five points. Westfield got going in the second period, outscoring the Firehawks 22-10 to take a 35-22 halftime lead. Cam Haffner helped out with two triples, scoring eight points for the quarter.
The Shamrocks led 44-32 midway through the third period before Victory made a run to cut the lead to 48-41 by the end of the quarter. Haffner added seven more points. The Firehawks’ Daryl Webb got hot, as he scored 12 points in that period.
“They played well, they did a lot of things well,” said Sumpter.
Victory got within 50-46 before Haffner and Smith hit back-to-back 3s, pushing Westfield ahead 56-46 with under four minutes to go. A 3-pointer from Kennedy White got the Firehawks within 56-49, then Benji Welch made two free throws to get the lead back up to nine. Victory scored the last five points of the game, but the ‘Rocks were able to hold on.
“It was an ugly game for sure,” said Sumpter. “I just thought we were a little flat. That’s my job to get our guys ready. We weren’t ready at the start of the game. But I thought we did a lot of good things as well. We struggled to make shots for sure, and it just seemed like there was a lid on the basket and we couldn’t make shots.”
Haffner scored 20 points to lead all scorers, with Smith adding 17. Both players had four 3-pointers for the game.
“We figured out how to get it done,” said Sumpter.
Westfield is back at The Rock on Tuesday, hosting Mount Vernon.
WESTFIELD 58, VICTORY COLLEGE PREP 54
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 5 3-3 17 0
Matt Penley 2 3-3 7 1
Benji Welch 0 2-2 2 2
Camden Simons 2 0-2 4 1
Nic Depasquale 3 0-2 6 2
Cam Haffner 8 0-0 20 2
Eli Patchett 0 0-0 0 0
Saaki Vishnumolakala 1 0-0 2 0
Totals 21 8-12 58 8
Score by Quarters
Victory College 12 10 19 13 – 54
Westfield 13 22 13 10 – 58
Westfield 3-pointers (8) Smith 4, Haffner 4.
Westfield’s Cam Haffner scored 20 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Shamrocks during their 58-54 win over Victory College Prep Saturday at The Rock. (Richie Hall)