Posted: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:45 pm | Updated: 12:13 am, Wed Dec 30, 2009.
By Peter Adelsen staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments
From what looked like a blowout, turned into a nail biter for the Kokomo High School Wildkats defeating the Westfield High School Shamrocks 73-65 at Memorial Gym Tuesday.
The first quarter featured six lead changes as Westfield tried to use its size to its advantage with 6’8” senior forward Jeff Howard scored six points and fellow 6’6” senior forward Michael Stockton scored four points in the frame. Kokomo responded with junior forward Parker Salinas scoring six points and sophomore guard Armon Bridgeforth scoring 5 points. The Kats led after the first quarter, 16-14.
The Kats began the second quarter on a 7-0 run to get a seven-point lead at 23-16. Westfield ended the run at 5:40 to go in the quarter when junior guard Maurice Fuller hit a three pointer, but that didn’t phase the Kats as they played team basketball to increase their lead to 13 points in the quarter. If the opening run wasn’t enough, the Kats ended the quarter on another 7-0 run to end the quarter with a 40-29 lead.
The third quarter was not as kind to the Wildkats as Westfield began to close the gap starting the period on a 7-3 run. Little by little the Shamrocks chipped away at the lead as Westfield got Kokomo out of rhythm. The Kats ended the quarter with the lead, 53-47.
The Shamrocks continued its come-back in the fourth quarter, but they could never get the lead. They got as close as one point down 62-62 with 2:02 remaining.
“We can’t let good teams hang around, or better yet, you can’t let good teams get a lead on you like we did,” Westfield coach Eric Rauch said. “We had our opportunities afterwards to close the gap, get it to one. And we just didn’t take advantage of it.”
Just a matter of second later at 1:50 to go Westfield’s Howard fouled out with 11 points. On the inbounds pass after the foul, Kats’ junior forward Cheyse Swain scored a quick layup to increase the lead to three at 64-61 and take all the momentum. Swain saved the momentum as he blocked a Westfield corner three-point shot with a half-minute to go to essentially seal the win for the Kats. From that point on it became a free-throw contest as the Kats defeated the Shamrocks, 73-65.
“We knew it was going to battle and we were going to play for 32 minutes,” Kokomo coach Brian McCauley said. “I am real proud about how our guys maintained their poise and composure. “
The Wildkats had five players scoring in double figures. Salinas led the Kats with 16 points. He was joined by Swain’s 13 points, senior guard T.J. Weir’s 12 points, sophomore guard D.J. Balentine’s 11 points and senior guard Brock Barbary’s 10 points.
The Wildkats dominated the rebounding category by outrebounding the Shamrocks 32-22. Swain led the Kats in rebounds with 11 total, including four offensive rebounds.
“We had the two biggest guys on the floor and we didn’t put a body on people,” Rauch said.
The Shamrocks had three players in double-figures scoring and were led by Fuller’s 21 points. Stockton scored 18 points and Howard scored 11 points.
Howard led Westfield with six rebounds.
The tenth-ranked Wildkats (6-1) next take on the Peru High School Tigers on January 8 at Memorial Gym. Westfield (4-3) next faces Fishers High School on January 8.
Scores by quarter:
Westfield 14 15 18 18 =65
Kokomo 16 24 13 20 =73
Other scores from Tuesday:
McCutcheon 61, Western 58
Maconaquah 68, North Miami 64 (Miami County Tournament)
Peru 52, Whitko 35 (Miami County Tournament)
Wednesday games:
Taylor at Sheridan
Miami County Tournament with Maconaquah and Peru
Hamilton Heights Classic with Hamilton Heights
No comments:
Post a Comment