True, it’s a different venue – Binghamton’s Floyd L. Maines Veterans Arena instead of Glens Falls Civic Center – but it’s the same Westhill boys basketball team, again bound for the state Class B final four, and bent on winning it all.
The Warriors earned this latest trip Saturday afternoon at SRC Arena, taking over in the second quarter of the Class B regional final against Section IV champion Norwich and rolling to a 73-54 victor over the Purple Tornado.
All of the typical Westhill winning elements that produced a seventh Section III title in nine years were in place here, from a consistent and tough defense to an attack that, with terrific ball movement and unselfishness, put five players in double figures.
Contrary to many state tournament match-ups, Westhill and Norwich had a familiarity with each other. They had played in regional finals in 2013 and 2014, both of which the Warriors won. Then they met again during the 2015-16 regular season, where the Purple Tornado prevailed.
All of those previous encounters with Norwich were tough for the Warriors, but it was determined not to make things as interesting this time around.
A great sign of Westhill’s team spirit was the fact that its first five baskets came from five different players – Kameren Jackson, Sean Dadey, Zechariah Brown, Braeden Elmer and Antonio Scrimale.
Trying to keep up, the Purple Tornado had its best success against the Warriors’ defense in the first quarter, and only trailed 23-17 at the end of it despite Westhill’s strong production.
And then it got away. Westhill opened the second period on a 13-2 run. Ultimately, it outscored the Purple Tornado 23-10 in that period, creating a 46-27 halftime margin.
Simply put, Norwich didn’t know who it had to contain. Scrimale and Dadey each had 10 points before intermission, with Brown’s nine points coming from three 3-pointers and Elmer, normally not an offensive force, adding eight points.
As if the first half wasn’t convincing enough, the Warriors put up 11 straight points in the third quarter that stretched its lead to 61-33. Each of Westhill’s players flew around the court to force the Purple Tornado into mistakes and then passed it around to wide-open teammates for a string of wide-open baskets.
Dadey would finish with a team-high 16 points, plus eight assists, six rebounds and two steals. Brown had 13 points and seven rebounds.
John Geer came off the bench to earn 11 points as Elmer and Scrimale both finished with 10 points, Scrimale adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kameren Jackson, doing a bit of everything, earned eight points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Now, instead of driving east to Glens Falls, Westhill heads an hour south, to Binghamton, where a third state championship in four years, and fifth overall in program history, could await.
On Friday night at 7:15, the Warriors will face Section XI (Suffolk County, Long Island) champion Center Moriches in the state semifinals. The winner gets Buffalo Health Sciences (Section VI) or Canton (Section X) in the state final Saturday night at 9 p.m.
