Mustangs Overpower Bearcats in SVC Battle, 57-47
Article presented by Rathkamp Financial …
Hot shooting in the 3rd Quarter and defensive pressure lifted Westfall to a comeback win at Paint Valley Friday, 57-47.
Trailing 21-17 at the half, Kyle Joseph’s Mustangs drained 8-of-10 from two-point range and added a pair of triples to outscore Paint Valley 22-11.
“We lost our first two games (Washington) Court House and Zane Trace by a combined four-points” Joseph said in the post-game with Litter Media RADIO. “Some tight games where I told the guys, I didn’t put them in the best spot to finish down the stretch… I was super please with our defensive effort.”
The Mustangs also took better care of the basketball in the second half. Westfall had nine turnovers in the first half, but knocked that down to six after halftime. Defensively, they forced 20 Bearcat turnovers.
It appeared Carson Free was on his way to a career night hitting the first 8-points for Paint Valley, but the senior forward was held scoreless from the field until midway through the third period.
“Yeah, they changed up their defense on us” said Bearcats coach Lakiem Lockery. “They went a little 1-3-1 to take him away.” Free finished the night with 20-points. “That first half for us was pretty good. We always have a bad start. A couple of nights ago, we had Unioto. That was our downfall, just our start and then we had to play catch up” said Lockery. “We changed that today. I was proud of them for that.”
But then came the 3rd period, when seven different Mustangs scored turning a four-point deficit into a 39-32 lead. “We had huge contributions from some of those guys… We wanna be the aggressor” added Joseph.
Westfall’s Joe Wray led all scorers with 22-points. The Mustangs finished shooting 40%nfor the game to Paint Valley’s 29%.
The Bearcats have a quick turnaround, hosting New Hope Christian Academy (1-0) Saturday night and return to SVC action Tuesday at Piketon. Westfall travels to Huntington Tuesday.
| TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| Westfall | 10 | 7 | 22 | 18 | 57 |
| Paint Valley | 8 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 47 |
WESTFALL (57): Joe Wray, 22; Bryan Craig, 6; Nate Wolfe, 3; Haden Rigsby, 11; Brock Williams, 4; Caleb Lowe, 2; Ethan Rose, 5; Jacob Hicks, 4.
PAINT VALLEY (47): Carson Free, 20; Jase Rinehart, 13; Braylon Robertson, 9; Landon Elliott, 9.
| SVC BOYS BKB | TEAM | SVC | OVERALL |
| 1 | Southeastern | 2-0 | 4-0 |
| Zane Trace | 2-0 | 3-0 | |
| Unioto | 2-0 | 2-1 | |
| 4 | Huntington | 1-1 | 1-2 |
| Westfall | 1-1 | 1-2 | |
| 6 | Piketon | 0-2 | 1-3 |
| Adena | 0-2 | 0-3 | |
| Paint Valley | 0-2 | 0-2 |
