Westfield’s three-time state champion football team can completely out-muscle teams on the gridiron, beating them down with a combination of speed of power. So can its basketball team.
On Thursday night the host Bulldogs overpowered Centreville, out-rebounding the Wildcats by more than a two-to-one margin en route to a 51-44 victory. It was a satisfying and important district win for Westfield, who also honored its four seniors before the game.
“We only have four seniors this year,” said D.J. Gregory, a three-year varsity player and one of those seniors. “We’re a young team but it doesn’t seem like it because we have a lot of players that can play.”
That they do. On Thursday the Bulldogs took the lead late in the first quarter for good, displaying resilience and toughness to answer every Centreville run that followed. Down seven at halftime, the Wildcats came out in the second half with a greater intensity on defense. Baskets by Caleb Emeogo and Bryce Douglas pulled the Cats to within three points, but then Westfield expanded its lead.
That would be a constant theme the rest of the way–the Cats would cut the lead to three only to have Westfield answer. Centreville’s Brendan O’Shea got it to 40-37 midway through the fourth quarter, only to have Marshall Reed hit two free throws and Aaron Opoku a driving lay-up to make it 44-37, Dogs. Then with 2:25 left O’Shea found Chris Martin open for a bucket to cut it to 44-41 and Westfield responded again.
First Reed was fouled on an offensive rebound. When he missed his second free throw he got another rebound. The Bulldogs couldn’t score but drew a charge on defense on Douglas a short time later. Then Westfield star junior guard Jordan Hairston scored, got a steal and scored again. It was 49-41 late, with the victory effectively sealed.
Hairston led Westfield (3-3, 10-7) with 17 points while Reed added 15 and Aaron Opoku eight. Westfield’s backcourt combination of Hairston and Gregory had 13 boards combined, while Reed had eight from the wing. Those three plus reserve forward Chris Scruggs were impressive in the way they controlled the boards and absorbed contact down low.
For Centreville (1-4, 6-12) Douglas led with 17 points. The Wildcats, still slowly getting back to full strength after a bunch of injuries, just could not match Westfield’s physical play. Kevin Harris’ team only got to the line four times on the evening and just allowed the Bulldogs too many chances to reload after missed shots.
District play continues for both teams Tuesday as Centreville hosts Oakton and the Bulldogs travel to Madison.
–Chris Jollay
all stats are unofficial
| CENTREVILLE | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| GHOUSHEH | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| B.DOUGLAS | 7-19 | 2-2 | 17 | 3 | 3 | |
| O’SHEA | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| EMEOGO | 3-6 | 0-0 | 7 | 1 | 4 | |
| MARTIN | 2-9 | 0-0 | 6 | 4 | 3 | |
| Porter | 2-6 | 1-2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | |
| Murray | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Goldammer | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 18-47 | 3-4 | 44 | 15 | 13 | |
| Threes: Emeogo 1-2, Porter 1-4, Martin 1-6, B.Douglas 1-7, O’Shea 0-1 | ||||||
| WESTFIELD | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| MORIN | 1-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| REED | 4-9 | 5-7 | 15 | 8 | 2 | |
| OPOKU | 3-5 | 2-2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
| HAIRSTON | 7-14 | 2-3 | 17 | 6 | 4 | |
| GREGORY | 2-7 | 0-0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | |
| Scruggs | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Cho | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Kiley | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Daniel | 1-3 | 1-2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Weaver | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 18-45 | 10-16 | 51 | 32 | 8 | |
| Threes: Morin 1-1, Reed 2-5, Daniel 1-3, Hairston 1-3, Gregory 0-2, Kiley 0-1 | ||||||