Westmont knocks off Timothy Christian
The reason why the Westmont boys basketball team prevailed 59-56 over Timothy Christian on Tuesday night at the Lisle Thanksgiving Tournament is it embraced again, late in the game, the fundamentals that had led to a great start in the first quarter.
The Sentinels (2-0) led 19-10 after the first eight minutes on 50 percent shooting, but then they managed just 21 points over the next two quarters. The team struggled early in the final quarter before calling a timeout to regroup and it got back in the contest.
"Our spacing started to fall apart. Things became congested and things started to slow down for us," said Westmont coach Craig Etheridge. "We started spreading the floor again and being more aggressive and we got back in the game."
The game was tied at 40 at the end of the third quarter and the Trojans (1-1) went on an 8-0 run to start the final period courtesy of a basket by Matt Owens and consecutive 3-pointers by Jack Baldridge. Baldridge led all scorers with 22 points, including six 3-point baskets.
Etheridge called a timeout with 6:16 remaining in the game.
"We're down 8. Coach calls a timeout and tells us to play better defense. He said to trap more. We got a couple of steals. We executed that last play well. Caden (Anderson) got an open shot and shot it," said senior Michael Thompson, who led the Sentinels with 17 points.
With 1:04 remaining in the contest, Thompson hit net to pull his team to within one at 56-55. The Trojans were then called for a foul and Westmont called a timeout with 33.5 seconds remaining to draw up a play as it would have the ball.
The ball got to Anderson, who finished with 16 points, and he sank the game-winning 3. Later Thompson added a free throw with just seconds left.
The Westmont roster sports eight seniors, and Etheridge said that experience is showing this season.
"Last year in big games, we were losing and we were in a position to win. We would make mistakes and didn't finish," he said. "We're a lot more confident now."
After scoring just 10 points in the first quarter, Timothy Christian got its offense going the following period. Westmont jumped out to a 28-17 advantage, but points from Baldridge and Josh Harris, who finished with 16 points, pulled the Trojans to within 28-25 before the Sentinels closed the first half with a 31-25 advantage.
"We started defending way better. Our rotations were better. Our closeouts were much more concentrated and we were rebounding better," said Timothy Christian coach Scott Plaisier.
He said this is the time of the season for learning.
"These games are good learning experiences. We want to be able to finish a game that we have the lead," Plaisier said.