
COLUMBIA – The Westwood boys basketball time finally got a chance to move away from their first loss of the season. After the Spring Valley game was postponed because of weather Friday, the Redhawks faced down the Vikings Monday night at Spring Valley, and led wire to wire.
Larry Brown came off the bench, drained five 3-pointers, and finished the night with 28 points in Westwood’s 61-45 victory.
DeMonte Jacobs, acting head coach with Trent Robinson away on paternity leave, knew the importance of Monday night’s effort.
“They were ready for that getback, because they just lost,” Jacobs said about bouncing back from the 67-47 loss at Ridge View Jan. 6. “I told them it’s all how you respond. Everybody saw you lose, now every team can think they beat you. I told them we’ve got to respond tonight and that’s what they did.”
The Redhawks (14-2, 2-2 Region 5-5A) patiently built a 13-5 lead in the first quarter on baskets from Jayden Crews and Sean Goddard, a 3-pointer from Crews, a bucket from Crews and two baskets from Brown. They went on a 17-5 scoring run to start the second quarter, which gave them a 30-10 lead before the Vikings (4-9, 0-4) scored eight points to cut Westwood’s lead to 30-18 at the half.
Ball control helped the Redhawks keep the Vikings at a distance in the third quarter, as they finished the period with a 46-30 lead.
Westwood held a 55-35 lead with three minutes left in the game before Spring Valley cut the lead back down to 15 points.
Brown stayed consistent whenever he was on the court, coming up with four baskets, two 3-pointers and a foul shot in the first half, and three 3s and four free throws in the second half.
“Larry is one of those guys who any coach can use,” Jacobs said. “He’s a quick, fast guard and once the gets hot the other teams are in trouble. That goes for any team. He’s just one of those guys. He can be a starter, but we have a team where anybody can start. He came in and gave us starter production, it’s what we preach around here, you get in, you do the right things, you’re going to stay in, you’re going to keep going.”
Brown, who averages 8.5 points per game, showed how he could find his way to the basket when needed, but he’s not alone. Crews, who averages 10.3 points, came up with 11 points Monday. D’Marcus Thomas had just four, but he averages 11.4 points and 4.4 assists per game.
“Everybody does everything. It could be anybody’s night. It comes from Coach Trent and the way he built this program,” Jacobs said. “If you look at any of our games, anyone can go off on a night. The expectation we have for them is there’s no one man show over here, anybody can get it.”
Westwood fell 59-57 at Lugoff-Elgin (11-5, 2-2) Tuesday night.
In the girls game, Westwood led 21-17 at the half and built a 30-23 lead with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter. At that point the Spring Valley girls finished the final two minutes of the quarter on a 15-1 scoring run, and outscored the Redhawks 18-9 in the final quarter to win 57-40.
Aneya Britt led Westwood with 13 points and Shaniya Heath had 10 points.
Lauren Crosland and Zie’l Ratchford scored 14 points apiece to lead the Vikings (10-6, 2-2).
The girls (9-11, 0-3) played Lugoff-Elgin (8-9, 1-2) Tuesday night.
Boys
Westwood – 13-17-16-15 — 61
Spring Valley – 5-13-12-15 — 45
W – Larry Brown 28, Jayden Crews 11, Goddard 6, Veal 5, Thomas 4, Cockfield 3, R. Brown 2, Hardy 2.
S – Preston Parker 10, Wilson 8, Patterson 7, Davis 5, Gause 4, Smith 3, Cromwell 2, McGee 2, Young 2, Gonzales 1, Parks 1.
Girls
Westwood – 10-11-10-9 — 40
Spring Valley – 10-7-22-18 — 57
W – Aneya Britt 13, Shaniya Heath 10, Davis 6, Roger 5, Dugger 2, Cummings 2, Alexander 2.
S – Lauren Crosland 14, Zie’l Ratchford 14, Briggs 8, Pinckney 8, Williams 5, Bethea 4, Chisholm 2, Stone 2