By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
ARCADIA – The Class 4A Westfield Shamrocks were looking to turn the corner after a difficult couple of weeks, and on Friday night at county rival 3A Hamilton Heights, they course corrected.
Senior big man Alex Romack finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, as the Shamrocks pulled ahead quickly in the second quarter to win, 64-42.
The visiting Shamrocks battled through two first-quarter ties and a narrow 18-13 lead prior to the second quarter before creating some breathing room with an 8-0 and 14-2 run in the half’s final 5 minutes, 31 seconds.
“We got off to a slow start defensively, actually, but I thought in the second quarter we got some things going and executed our stuff,” Westfield head coach Shane Sumpter said. “I thought we had a big advantage, obviously, inside with our size with Romack and trying to get him some touches.”
Romack shot 5 of 7 from the field in the first half, hauled in six rebounds and slammed home a pair of dunks, scoring six of Westfield’s 14 points down the stretch to put the Shamrocks (12-6) ahead 37-18 at halftime.
“We kind of had a little stretch there that was rough, so to come out here and play well, get a win and kind of getting rolling again as we head into the end game with sectional, was important,” Romack said. “We realized we had to pick it up after that first quarter and needed to wake up a little bit. Then, we just started rolling from there.”
The Huskies (6-13) were held to five points in the second quarter, and despite a team-high 13 points from Tillman Etchison, they could get no closer than 14 points in the second half.
“Just getting back to being us. We had a stretch there with a couple of games where I thought we had some miscues defensively, and we’ve gone back to the drawing board the past couple of games,” Sumpter said. “We’ve done that and obviously, we need to continue.”
The Shamrocks opened the season 8-1 before losing five of their last eight. On Tuesday, they defeated Harrison (West Lafayette) 47-42 and with their win over Hamilton Heights, the Shamrocks have strung two victories together, marking their longest run since early January.
“We’re glad to get a win here. It’s always a tough place to play, and I have a lot of respect for their program,” Sumpter said.
The respect led to 3-point efficiency, particularly from junior Trey Buchanan, who buried 4 of 9 attempts from beyond the arc. He finished with 14 points and four assists.
The Shamrocks converted 7 of 10 3-pointers in the first half and added two more in the second half to go 9 of 15 overall.
“We came in here and took care of business and did what we were supposed to do,” Sumpter said.
Sam Bishop added seven points. Seth LaRavia had 12 points off the bench, and both Carsen Melvin and Charles Farrell each contributed four points apiece. Farrell had six assists.
“We knew coming in it was going to be an uphill battle, but we wanted to compete. We just want to get better. We’re working over the next few weeks for that sectional,” Huskies head coach Chad Ballenger said. “But in the second half, I thought we competed hard. Did a really good job, but that second quarter is really what stumbled us. We’re going to learn from it.”
The Huskie deficit reached 22 points with 3:19 left in the fourth where it remained by the final horn.
Maddox Bohland tallied nine points for the Huskies, followed by nine more from Sam Dawson and six points from Evan Williamson. John Irion had four points, and Colin Kuhn added one point.
Hamilton Heights went 1-for-3 on their recent three-game road trip. They played at home for the first time since beating 2A Hagerstown, 74-58, on Jan. 24.
“We were glad to be back home. We talked about that. We needed a good start. We’re trying to take the approach of a sectional type atmosphere, and we had a great crowd tonight on Junior Huskies Night,” Ballenger said. “We talked about the environment and being ready to play, and I was very happy that our kids did that to start.”
WESTFIELD 64, HAMILTON HEIGHTS 42
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Trey Buchanan 5 0-0 14 1
Sam Bishop 3 0-0 7 1
Charles Farrell 2 0-0 4 3
Durante Morton 2 0-1 4 0
Alex Romack 10 0-0 20 2
Seth LaRavia 4 1-2 12 3
Max McComb 0 0-0 0 0
Will Harvey 1 0-0 3 4
Matthew Naas 0 0-0 0 0
Ian Wilson 0 0-0 0 0
Collinsworth 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 27 1-3 64 14
Westfield 3-pointers (9) Buchanan 4, LaRavia 3, Bishop, Harvey.
Heights FG FT TP PF
Maddox Bohland 3 2-4 9 3
Tillman Etchison 3 5-8 12 0
John Irion 1 2-2 5 0
Sam Dawson 3 0-0 9 0
Simon Knott 0 0-0 0 1
Tyler Champion 0 0-2 0 2
Isaiah Grimsey 0 0-0 0 0
Evan Williamson 2 0-0 6 1
Cooper Vondersaar 0 0-0 0 0
Phoenix Vondersaar 0 0-0 0 0
Braylon Collins 0 0-0 0 0
Nathan Yoder 0 0-0 0 0
Colin Kuhn 0 1-2 1 0
Totals 12 8-16 42 7
Heights 3-pointers (8) Dawson 3, Williamson 2, Bohland, Etchison, Irion.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 18 19 12 15 – 64
Heights 13 5 11 13 – 42