For the Westhill boys basketball team, the task was simple – accumulate wins and momentum so that it had maximum confidence about its upcoming Section III and state Class B title defenses.
The Warriors, back up to no. 19 in the latest state Class B rankings, went to Mexico last Monday and mostly did its damage during the first half of a 63-43 victory over the Tigers.
It was 34-14 by intermission, so Westhill could afford to ease up during an indifferent second half. Still, John Geer hit five 3-pointers for a season-best total of 19 points as Sean Dadey added 16 points. Holden Carroll had seven points and Charlie Bolesh got six points.
Going to Phoenix a night later, the Warriors were far more potent in a 92-57 romp over the Firebirds, netting 26 points in the first quarter and 25 points in the third quarter as all 10 players that saw action earned at least one field goal.
Dadey, on his way to 23 points, hit on five 3-pointers. Geer remained hot with 17 points as Zechariah Brown returned to form with 13 points. Owen Matukas got nine points, just ahead of Bolesh (six points), Ryan Gilmartin (eight points) and Chris Holt (seven points).
From there, Westhill went on to face Jordan-Elbridge Thursday night, and closed the regular season with a 16-4 mark as Dadey broke out and the Warriors handled the Eagles 77-50.
A 21-6 dash through the first quarter set the tone as Dadey, hitting seven 3-pointers, worked his way to 35 points overall. Geer added 13 points as most of J-E’s offense came from Jeremiah Sparks, who had 22 points, and Aidan Carpenter, who got 16 points.
Before this, J-E had seen its seven-game win streak halted at Homer, where it started well, but then fell apart in a 54-45 defeat to the Trojans.
A steady first half on both ends allowed the Eagles to seize a 29-20 lead, but then J-E went cold, held to seven points in the third quarter and unable to keep Homer from taking the lead in the fourth quarter.
Sparks had 26 points, but the rest of the Eagles had just six combined field goals as Carpenter got seven points and Collin Barrigar got six points. Homer got 19 points from Bryant Quinlan, 13 points from Steve Walter and 10 points from Casey Hayes.
The loss to Westhill didn’t have any lingering effect on J-E as, on Saturday, it went to Skaneateles and prevailed 58-35 to complete a regular-season sweep of the Lakers.
A 16-4 opening run gave the Eagles a comfortable margin, and things didn’t change much from there as Dakota Holbrook took off with 20 points and Carpenter poured in 17 points, both of them taking pressure off Sparks, who still had 12 points.
