John Bruce, Staff Writer
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WILLIAMSPORT – 2001.
Before Tuesday evening, 2001 marked the last season that Westfall handed Logan Elm a loss.
However, thanks in part to an outstanding defensive effort and timely bench play, the Mustangs (2-0) were able to break that 22-year streak with a 45-39 win over their county rival.
“The guys knew that we hadn’t beat them in a really long time and that they are a really good program,” Westfall head coach Kyle Joseph said after the victory. “This means a ton to the guys. A team like [Logan Elm] isn’t going to give you anything. You have to earn everything and finish.”
CREDIT: Hailey Fox/SOSA
That’s exactly what the Mustangs did: finish.
Senior guard Brody Clark went 4-for-4 from the free throw stripe in the final 10 seconds of play to ultimately put the game on ice.
It was Logan Elm (0-1) that actually got out to a quick start. After a Westfall hoop to start the game, Nemiah Waugh knocked home a pair of free throws before Alden Williams splashed a 3 from the corner, giving the Braves their biggest lead of the game at 5-2. Westfall’s Brenden Tuttle then buried a 3 from the wing before Jeremiah Layton and Waugh traded baskets to finish the first quarter tied at 9-9.
The Mustangs took control in the second quarter behind a 7-0 run from sophomore Joe Wray to go ahead 18-11 midway through the stanza. Wray got his first four points of the run on a pair of hard drives to the basket, before getting his defender on his heels and burying a triple from deep beyond the 3-point line.
Logan Elm stayed in the game to end the first half with a quick flurry from Williams, who knocked down his second trey before getting three the old-fashioned way, closing out the half’s scoring with Westfall leading 20-17.
The second half began with some sloppiness, especially coming from the Braves, as they turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions to begin the third. That was mostly due to the intense defense the Mustangs were playing.
With the Braves struggling to score, the Mustangs looked to Clark to increase their lead. The senior was scoreless in the first half, but broke into the scoring column with a hard baseline drive to the bucket for his first two before drawing multiple shooting fouls and drilling his first four freebies of the contest.
Westfall built its lead back to as much as eight before Carson Summers hit Waugh for a backdoor layup to finally break into LE’s books in the third. Waugh added a pair of free throws and a layup to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 27-23 after three.
With both teams giving full effort defensively, the fouls began to pile up for each team, leading to a slow moving quarter with six foul disqualifications, three from each team.
This caused the free throw line to play a large role in the final eight minutes, with the Mustangs only getting a pair of put back scores from Layton and freshman Bryan Craig in the quarter. The Braves finally found a third scorer with senior Brody Sabine breaking into the book with a triple in front of the Logan Elm bench.
Beyond Sabine’s trey, the Braves still struggled to score in the quarter as the Mustangs pushed their lead back out to as large as eight.
Following the disqualifications of Wray and Henry Barnes, the Mustangs were desperate to hold onto their lead. Logan Elm responded with a layup from Sabine and hitting Waugh on the same play, which started its second half scoring to cut the lead to three. Tuttle split a pair for the Mustangs before Brydan Gall fouled out, leading to a pair of freebies for Williams to cut the lead to two.
With Gall fouling out, Joseph then went deep into his bench, bringing Jacob Hicks into the game for the first time with only 39.8 seconds left to play.
Of course, that meant that Hicks would immediately play a big role in the decision of the contest. He was quickly fouled and stepped to the line with 29.8 to play and nursing a two-point lead.
Following a miss on the first attempt, the junior calmly sank the second, giving the Mustangs a three-point lead.
“Jacob had played four quarters in the junior varsity game and really hadn’t moved since halftime,” Joseph said of Hicks’ heroics. “And the second half took forever. He stayed locked in and was ready when his number was called.”
The ensuing possession resulted in an LE turnover, which gave way for Clark to nail a pair of tosses for a five-point lead. A frantic possession from Logan Elm then ultimately ended with a canned 3 from Sabine with 11.4 to play.
After a timeout, Westfall was able to get the ball into Clark and he was quickly fouled, where he put the game away with the aforementioned free throws.
Clark led the Mustangs with 13 points — all in the second half — and shot 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Craig came off the bench with 10 points and seven rebounds, Wray added nine points before fouling out and Layton gave the Mustangs seven points and seven boards on the night.
Waugh did everything he could to bring the Braves a victory, leading them with 18 points, five rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots. Williams netted 11 points while Sabine scored nine, all in the second half.
Westfall returns to action on Saturday night, traveling south to take on Southeastern in Scioto Valley Conference play. Meanwhile, Logan Elm goes back on the road where the Braves will meet with Hamilton Township in the Mid-State League opener.
BOX SCORE
Logan Elm: 9-8-6-16 — 39
Westfall: 9-11-7-18 — 45
Logan Elm: 11-29 FG, 13-20 FT, 4-14 3pt. Scoring: Waugh 18, Williams 11, Sabine 9, Summers 1.
Westfall: 13-35 FG, 17-30 FT, 2-7 3pt. Scoring: Clark 13, Craig 10, Wray 9, Layton 7, Tuttle 4, Gall 1, Hicks 1.
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