Wednesday night the Westfield Bulldogs under coach Kevin Harris took down the Centreville Wildcats at home to secure their first district win and seventh overall of the season, by a score of 66-57.
Centreville came out blazing in the first quarter, driving inside the paint to take an early lead led by junior PG Jaxon Davis, who leads the team in PPG with 17.6. The Wildcats were also quite aggressive on defense, much due to the speed of senior Xavier Andrades, quickly doubling the ball and stifling many Bulldog opportunities. However, Westfield’s defense picked up a sense of urgency closing out the first, with multiple forced turnovers in the paint. After a quarter, it was 15-14 Westfield.
The second quarter saw a complete turnaround in the game environment as the Bulldogs outscored the Wildcats 21-0 to open the quarter. The Wildcats struggled with hitting their shots and were outclassed in ball movement and finishing. Bulldog sophomores Isaiah Brown Jr., Jemon Price, and Mathias Lee consistently drilled mid-range shots, while locking up Davis and holding Centreville scoreless through almost the first eight minutes.
Wildcat junior shooting guard Jack Siwert did find some productivity on the three-point line in the closing plays of the half. But the damage had been done, and Coach Harris would comment that “The biggest [key to success] was our defense in the second quarter.”
“We were able to press and turn them over and take them out of their rhythm offensively. They made a couple of runs in the second half, but our guys were tough and matched their intensity.”
Centreville seemed to pick up a sense of urgency coming out of the half, picking up the pace on defense and playing with more physicality on offense. Trailing by 10 points going into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats found success defending Brown, Jr., but were themselves locked out in the paint. They struggled to finish on layups with Westfield bigs Mathias Lee and Junior Braden Norris defending down low. The fast-paced game ended in a slow manner, with Westfield running down the clock and taking fouls.
As an opportunity to secure both teams their first district wins, the game was important in order to set the tone for the rest of the season.
“There are no easy wins in our district,” Harris said. “Centreville came out with a ton of energy looking for their first district win as well. They are a talented, well-coached team. For us, it’s good to get in the win column, but we have to focus our energy on correcting mistakes and coming out with energy and a championship mindset every time we step on the floor.”
Brown Jr. also commented on the win, stating that “I feel like the most effective factor of our first district win was our energy from the jump and our defense. We came out with a different mindset than any other game, it being a rivalry game helped.”
Price had 21 points to lead the way for Westfield, while Brown had 17 and Lee finished with 10.
As Westfield travels to play Madison (1-1, 7-7) Friday night, the Bulldogs can enter with a focused mindset, knowing that they executed a well-designed and fast-paced game plan against their cross-town rival and Centreville, who plays at home tonight against a formidable South Lakes (9-2) team.
–Nam Tran
Nam is a student at Westfield High School