Fenruary 13, 2015: When the Westlake Wolverines and Patuxent Panthers met for a SMAC matchup this past Friday, Westlake was holding solid in second place, trailing North Point by 2 games. Patuxent had only 9 players dressed, compared to Westlake’s 13. Westlake were able to send in fresh substitutes much more often than their opponents, which eventually played a big part in the fourth quarter. Patuxent was celebrating senior night, and commemorated senior forward Jared Torney for his services. Torney was able to start in his last home game with the Panthers.
In the first quarter, Patuxent started the scoring when junior center Jaquan Kelley stepped outside the 3 point line and buried a jump shot. Westlake responded with an 8-0 run and carried the momentum with them into the 2nd quarter. The Wolverines led at the end of the first quarter 23-14. In the second quarter, the Wolverines took advantage of the Panthers missed shots and had several breakaway slam dunks in the quarter. Patuxent attempted to respond, but the pressure applied by Westlake’s ddefense wouldn’t allow them. The score going into halftime stood at 43-29, in favor of Westlake.
In the third quarter, Westlake’s pressure defense forced the Panthers into multiple mistakes in succession, and shut the Panthers offense down for most of the quarter. In the meantime, the Wolverines offense scored in bunches and opened up a 21 point lead. Patuxent made their first field goal with 1 minute left in the quarter on a 3 pointer by junior guard Darus Maddox. Maddox added a floater in the quarter, and he scored the team’s only points of the quarter. Westlake held a 61-34 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Patuxent tried to come back, but Westlake just threw the ball around with each other and tired the Panthers .The 4th quarter went by without many stops and was over as soon as it began. When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read 75-52 Westlake. The wolverines were led in scoring by senior forward Omar Alston with 22 points, and his teammate Trevor English had 20. The Wolverines improve to 10-1 in SMAC, and are still in second place trailing North Point by 2 games. The Panthers were led in scoring by sophomore guard Terrell Gross with 14 points, and his teammate Darus Maddox had 13 points.
