A third time’s a charm. Westside varsity boys’ basketball team defeated Butler 52-38 in the 4-AA Regional Championship game on Friday, Feb. 18.
The Patriots had lost to Butler two times in the regular season before, but pulled it off on the Bulldogs’ home floor when it mattered most.
“It feels good to see what the guys have overcome,” said Westside Coach Jerry Hunter. “We still have a long way to go, but Butler beat us twice and we wanted another opportunity to compete against them for the region championship, so we got back where we felt like we needed to be and embraced the opportunity.”
Westside got off to a big lead early, dominating the first quarter by a score of 14-5. They extended their lead in the second quarter to 27-11, led by eight points from Jalexs Ewing.
Although the game seemed to be over, Butler went on a 14-4 run in the third quarter, halting the Patriots lead to 35-25. The Patriots would go on a 5-0 run to end the third quarter with a half-court 3-pointer by Ewing to give Westside the momentum going into the fourth and the 40-25 lead.
A hard fought second half by Butler wouldn’t be enough, as Westside will move on to the Georgia High School State Playoffs. Khalon Hudson led the scoring for the Patriots in the fourth quarter with seven points.
Hunter commented on the second half and gave props to Butler after the game.
“I told them Butler is a championship team,” said Hunter. “They’re going to give it their shot, I felt like we took the best shot at the beginning of the fourth. There a great team and have a great coach, so the most important thing to me was to make sure they understood that this is a good team, and they are going to make a run and they did. We took that shot and was able to recover.”
Westside has now clinched the number one seed going into the playoffs, but Hunter says he doesn’t want his team to get too comfortable.
“I made sure they understood; this is a good win; they clinched the one-seed in the state playoffs. It’s OK to feel good, but not time to celebrate,” he said. “We got to make sure we stick to the game plan, scout the next team were going to play and work hard.”
The first round matchup for Westside in the playoffs is to be announced.
