Westchester falls to rival Caldwell
Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
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HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day and Caldwell Academy once again battled into the final minutes. But this time the Wildcats came up a little short.
Westchester fought to even a back-and-forth game with 3 1/2 minutes to go. But the Eagles scored five straight points for the slimmest of advantages and held on to beat the Wildcats 62-54 in NCISAA PTAC boys basketball Thursday on Senior Night at Westchester.
In the girls game, Westchester fell behind early but — thanks to a nice second-quarter run — rallied to get back in the game at halftime. Caldwell, however, pulled away in the second half to beat the Wildcats 60-30.
“We played hard, and we’ve been playing hard all season,” Westchester boys coach Brook Patterson said. “Obviously, this is a big game for us — they’re our rival. We fought and they fought. We’ve continually gotten better all year. I’ve watched them and they’ve watched us, and we’ve both seen the progression.
“Earlier in the year we had a close one — just like this one. We came out ahead in that one and tonight they got us. Again, our guys played hard. We just didn’t make some shots we wanted to make.”
Jacob Johnson scored 17 points to lead the Wildcats (4-11 overall, 1-8 PTAC), who are borderline for hosting a game in next week’s NCISAA 2A state playoffs but could’ve made a much stronger case with a win. Tyler Matthews added 14 points, followed by Griffin Powell with 13 and Myles Patterson with 10.
The Eagles led by seven in the first half and Westchester led by six early in the second half. Caldwell (5-13, 1-8), which was led by Alex Raley with 16 points, jumped ahead five two minutes into the fourth before the Wildcats evened the score 49-49 on a layup by Matthews with 3:30 remaining.
But Westchester missed from outside on three consecutive possessions, and the Eagles scored two free throws and a driving layup to lead by four with 2:29 left. And the Wildcats were chasing the rest of the way — getting as close as two with 1:37 left and again with 59 seconds left.
“That was the run there,” Patterson said. “Last time we came out in the third quarter, pressured them and kind of made a run. This time when we pressured them they were more ready for it. That’s why they were getting some layups in there, we weren’t helping the helper and our defensive rotation got caught.”
Westchester will await the playoff brackets that will be released over the weekend. Its play has steadily improved in recent weeks as it recovered from a lengthy break in December and January, and now it’s looking forward to making something happen in the state tournament.
“We’re just going to wait and see,” Patterson said. “This was a huge game, and I don’t know how the seeding committee’s going to be. We split against each other and all our games have had similar results. So, I don’t know — it is what is. We’re happy to host and we’re happy to go somewhere.
“We’re getting better, and that’s where we want to be.”
Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day and Caldwell Academy once again battled into the final minutes. But this time the Wildcats came up a little short.
Westchester fought to even a back-and-forth game with 3 1/2 minutes to go. But the Eagles scored five straight points for the slimmest of advantages and held on to beat the Wildcats 62-54 in NCISAA PTAC boys basketball Thursday on Senior Night at Westchester.
In the girls game, Westchester fell behind early but — thanks to a nice second-quarter run — rallied to get back in the game at halftime. Caldwell, however, pulled away in the second half to beat the Wildcats 60-30.
“We played hard, and we’ve been playing hard all season,” Westchester boys coach Brook Patterson said. “Obviously, this is a big game for us — they’re our rival. We fought and they fought. We’ve continually gotten better all year. I’ve watched them and they’ve watched us, and we’ve both seen the progression.
“Earlier in the year we had a close one — just like this one. We came out ahead in that one and tonight they got us. Again, our guys played hard. We just didn’t make some shots we wanted to make.”
Jacob Johnson scored 17 points to lead the Wildcats (4-11 overall, 1-8 PTAC), who are borderline for hosting a game in next week’s NCISAA 2A state playoffs but could’ve made a much stronger case with a win. Tyler Matthews added 14 points, followed by Griffin Powell with 13 and Myles Patterson with 10.
The Eagles led by seven in the first half and Westchester led by six early in the second half. Caldwell (5-13, 1-8), which was led by Alex Raley with 16 points, jumped ahead five two minutes into the fourth before the Wildcats evened the score 49-49 on a layup by Matthews with 3:30 remaining.
But Westchester missed from outside on three consecutive possessions, and the Eagles scored two free throws and a driving layup to lead by four with 2:29 left. And the Wildcats were chasing the rest of the way — getting as close as two with 1:37 left and again with 59 seconds left.
“That was the run there,” Patterson said. “Last time we came out in the third quarter, pressured them and kind of made a run. This time when we pressured them they were more ready for it. That’s why they were getting some layups in there, we weren’t helping the helper and our defensive rotation got caught.”
Westchester will await the playoff brackets that will be released over the weekend. Its play has steadily improved in recent weeks as it recovered from a lengthy break in December and January, and now it’s looking forward to making something happen in the state tournament.
“We’re just going to wait and see,” Patterson said. “This was a huge game, and I don’t know how the seeding committee’s going to be. We split against each other and all our games have had similar results. So, I don’t know — it is what is. We’re happy to host and we’re happy to go somewhere.
“We’re getting better, and that’s where we want to be.”
