Westminster Christian tops Harvest Christian

According to preseason conjecture it was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Westminster Christian boys basketball team.

If that is the case the construction is coming along ahead of schedule. The Warriors won for the second straight night at their own Thanksgiving tournament with a 57-42 over neighborhood rival Harvest Christian on Tuesday.

Senior Dillon Rejman led the way with 20 points. Connor Albrecht added 11 points. Westminster plays St. Edward on Friday to try and advance to the championship game of the tournament.

"We have the ability to be a really good team," first-year Westminster coach Andy Zielinski said. "Attendance was great over the summer and practices have been great. That has kind of carried over to these first two games. So we are real happy with the progress so far. We get a tough test on Friday against a real good St. Edward team, so that will give us a little more of an indication where we are at.'

The Warriors struggled offensively in the first half, hitting on just 7-of 28 (25 percent) of their shots from the field, but still managed to lead 25-21 at halftime. Albrecht help keep the Warriors afloat with 9 points in the first half.

Westminster finally found its stride in the third quarter when it closed out on a 14-4 run to open up a 41-28 advantage. Rejman led the surge with 9 points during the run with a 3-pointer, a pair of driving layups, and a couple free throws.

"The defense is really what turned it around," Rejman said. "We switched from man-to-man to a 1-2-2. That's what we played all last year, so we were pretty familiar with it. We got a couple turnovers and some easy baskets on the other end and that got us going."

Rejman doesn't believe this has to be a rebuilding year.

"Even though we don't have a lot of experience we still have guys who know what they are doing," Rejman said. "Everyone one is working hard, so I think it could be a good year for us."

The Warriors continued to pull away in the fourth quarter and led by as many as 19 points.

Harvard lost its second straight game, but it was a vast improvement over the 31-point blowout loss to St. Edward on Monday. "We had a lot better mindset tonight and stepped it up some," Harvest coach Lafeyette Bell said. "I thought the defense was much more in sync and that is something we have really focused on."

They say offense wins games but defense wins championships and we want to build toward being a championship team. We are just going to keep working hard and make progress every day."

Brett Cramer led the Lions with 16 points. Dylan Lockwood added 10, including three 3-pointers.