BLYTHEWOOD – With the Region 5-4A title essentially on the line Friday night, the Westwood boys had an opportunity to clinch it with a win over Ridge View.
The Redhawks, ranked No.1 in the 4A SC Basketball Coaches Association poll in front of the No.2 Blazers, suddenly lost their swagger when Ridge View outscored them 20-7 in the fourth quarter and handed them a 64-52 defeat before a packed Castle.
“This hurts,” Westwood head coach Trent Robinson said. “It hurts, but they worked their butts off, and I told the seniors that it’s not their last home game.”
Friday night was senior night, and seniors from the boys and girls teams were honored in the intermission between games. Westwood will clinch home court advantage in the 4A playoffs with either a first- or second-place finish.
With two region games to play apiece, Ridge View owns the points tie break over Westwood. The Redhawks edged the Blazers 66-64 Jan. 17.
“They were two or three possessions better than us tonight, and if we’re lackadaisical in those two or three possessions, that’s the game,” Robinson noted about his team’s fourth-quarter slide. “I’m still trying to emphasize to my guys, older and younger, that the dropoff can be there and we’ve got to approach every practice, every rep the same way. Credit Ridge View, they came and showed up and were two or three possessions better than us.”
Tavaris Bell led all scorers with 24 points and Dontae Walters had 15 points, but four other Westwood scorers combined for just 13 points on the night.
Four Ridge View players got into double digits. Yale Davis had 13 points, Korie Corbett and Jayden Pretty added 12 points apiece, and Malachi Cooper had 11.
“We’ve got depth,” Blazers head coach Josh Staley said. “We’ve got guys who busted their tails in the offseason, that’s what’s expected of them. We don’t hope for them to play well, we expect them to play well because they put the same amount of time in as the starters.”
Westwood (19-2, 8-1) played slightly behind Ridge View (22-1, 8-1) in the first half, falling behind 12-11 at first quarter’s end and 33-29 at the half.
Davis opened the second half with a Ridge View basket to make it 25-29, but Westwood kicked off a 16-2 run over the next 6 ½ minutes and took a 42-37 lead on the Blazers with 1:37 to go in the third.
That run featured two putbacks from Walters, two baskets from Zion Brown and one from Bell, and three foul shots.
Ridge View got back-to-back field goals from Cooper and Trey’Von Smith before Bell sank three straight foul shots to make it 45-41 Westwood, but Cooper hit a 3 at the buzzer to give the Redhawks just a 1-point advantage going into the fourth quarter.
It was all Ridge View from the first play of the final frame. Westwood had nine turnovers and missed several 3-point attempts in trying to keep the Blazers from running away with the game. Yet, Ridge View did, using a defensive set that disrupted Westwood’s 3-point capabilities as well as having a solid presence under the nets. The Redhawks final basket was a Bell attempt at the 2:22 mark that cut the lead to 56-52 at the time.
The loss snapped the team’s 13-game winning streak. Robinson said he thinks his team will use the loss as a springboard.
“It’ll get that fire back in us,” he said. “At the beginning of the year we went on a win streak and Blythewood got us. And we went on another win streak, but this shows that we can lose, that’s a part of basketball, but we’ll bounce back.”
Westwood did bounce back with a come-from-behind 54-48 victory over Irmo (5-19, 2-7) Tuesday night.
In the girls game Westwood (16-9, 5-4) took a 34-29 lead into the fourth quarter, but Ridge View (17-8, 9-0) outscored the Redhawks 20-5 in that quarter to win 49-39. Makiah Thompson led all scorers with 18 points.
Lucia Bailey scored 15 points and Simone Johnson added 10 points to lead Ridge View, which clinched the region championship.
A.C. Flora (19-6, 8-1) clinched second place, and the Redhawks will finish third.
Westwood beat Irmo 54-33 Tuesday night. Thompson led the Redhawks over the Yellow Jackets with 16 points. Kamirra Clarke scored 12 points.
Westwood finishes the regular season at Richland Northeast Friday.
Boys
Ridge View – 12-21-11-20 — 64
Westwood – 11-18-16-7 — 52
Ridge View
Yale Davis 13, Corbett 12, Jayden Pretty 12, Malachi Cooper 11, Smith 6, Smith 4, Wylie 4,
Westwood
T.J. Bell 24, Dontae Walters 15, Z. Brown 6, Thomas 5, Roberts 1, L. Brown 1.
Girls
Ridge View – 9-12-8-20 — 49
Westwood – 7-17-10-5 — 39
Ridge View
Lucia Bailey 15, Simone Johnson 10, Drakeford 9, Banks 8, Ferguson 4, Harvey 3.
Westwood
Makiah Thompson 18, Omeire 7, Britt 5, Cummings 4, Curry 4, Chatman 1.
