Terrance Barnes (1) pushes one into the basket as Xavier Davis (3) watches it fall. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD (Jan. 13, 2016) – The Westwood boys’ basketball team needed to work on its execution, especially following Friday’s Region IV-4A opening loss to Ridge View, head coach Terry Dozier said.
That’s just what the Redhawks did in the form of an up-tempo 65-40 victory over Lugoff-Elgin Tuesday night at Westwood.
“I said at the beginning of the game that we’re going to execute our stuff on offense and defense,” Dozier said. “It’s about execution. If we don’t get reckless, then we’ll be able to handle this game in a methodical way.”
The Redhawks (9-6, 1-1) played true to that, leading wire-to-wire and keeping the Demons (5-7, 0-2) on their heels throughout the game.
Terrence Barnes came off the bench in the first quarter and with his 8 points helped give the Redhawks a 14-8 lead after the first quarter.
With Westwood substituting the entire starting lineup to begin the second quarter, both teams went without a basket for the first 5 minutes of the quarter.
“I subbed, and we tried something we hadn’t done, a 1-3-1 (defense),” Dozier said. “I had guys in there that weren’t used to being in there that early and I decided to get the starters back in there and we got on a roll again.”
The Redhawks outscored the Demons 9-4 to take a 23-12 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter saw Jordan Watson put the game on ice for Westwood. Watson scored 12 of his 21 points on the night in the third quarter, including his 3-pointer at the buzzer that put Westwood up 42-25 going into the fourth.
There, the Redhawks added 23 points to that total to finish a convincing win.
Barnes finished the night with 12 points. Jalen Robinson added 11 points.
Tuesday’s win put a little distance in Friday’s region-opening 65-59 loss to Ridge View.
“We felt like we gave it away,” Dozier said. “We felt like we outplayed them with the exception that we didn’t handle that pressure when they started off the second half. It’s a stale taste when you feel like you should’ve won but you didn’t.”
The Redhawks hope to build a win streak against Dutch Fork Friday night before traveling across town to face Blythewood on Jan. 19.
“I think we’re going to put together a coming home celebration,” Dozier said, “so we can get our kids here and we can make up for that loss (at Ridge View) and we can make our way through the region.”
L-E: 8-4-13-15 – 40
WHS: 14-9-19-23 – 65
L – Bradwin Salmond 18, Wells 7, Byrd 6, Campbell 4, Samuel 3, Elm 2. W – Jordan Watson 21, Terrence Barnes 12, Jalen Robinson 11, Davis 5, Dobey 5, Crosby 4, Frederick 2, Corley 2, Brown 2, Shaw 1. REC: Lugoff-Elgin 5-7, 0-2, Westwood 9-6, 1-1.
