Coming into basketball action on Wednesday, neither Westlake nor North Point’s teams had been able to practice due to the blizzard over the weekend. Both teams were also unbeaten in division play, and both teams were looking to get over on the other one.
The rust was evident from both teams in the first few minutes, as both teams committed turnovers, or clanked shots off of the rim. North Point eventually found the basket, and the game was off and running.
The teams traded baskets for some parts of the first quarter but Jalen Gibbs intercepted two errant passes in a row, and converted the baskets in transition. On the latter of the two, he rose into the air, and slammed down the ball with one hand. The Eagles led 20-10 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Wolverines defense tightened somewhat, but still lost the quarter to North Point. The Wolverines couldn’t make their baskets fall, and the height of the Eagles allowed them to scoop up every rebound. At half, North Point led 34-22. Coming out of half, the near capacity crowd at Westlake was making the gym almost unbearable to stand in due to the noise. The Eagles began driving to the baskets, and almost every single one of their shots found the bottom of the net.
Westlake began to find some holes to exploit in the Eagles zone defense, as they put up 19 points in the quarter. They still gave up 22 to the Eagles, and were down 56-41 going into the final quarter.
In the fourth, North Point wasted clock and didn’t allow Westlake to mount any type of comeback. They ended up coming out with the win 69-53.
The Eagles improve to 9-5 on the season, and 6-0 in the conference. Westlake falls to 9-4, and 5-1 in conference. Westlake will be in action on Friday night at McDonough, and North Point will be in action at home against St. Charles this Friday.
