Westfield weathers three-point barrage from John Milledge Academy to advance to GIAA quarterfinals

PERRY — In sports, and in life, sometimes the cards just don’t fall your way.

As John Milledge Academy (12-14) took a 21-8 lead nearly six minutes into the first quarter it felt like Wednesday was just one of those nights for Westfield (13-13).

The Trojans made six first-quarter three-pointers and nine total in the first half. That kind of hot shooting in the GIAA state tournament is usually enough to send you packing. But the Hornets kept at it and ended up with an electric 64-57 win at home.

“The one thing that helped us is we got a bucket or two, and Jack [Doster] got a few hustle plays and layups, it kind of kept the game close,” Head coach Brett Hardy said. “We called that timeout [in the first quarter] and just said, ‘You got to weather the storm. They can’t shoot it that well all night.’”

“I think just chipping away at it was the big thing that got us back [in the game].”

Westfield’s “chipping away” didn’t seem as much by chisel as it did by jackhammer.

Immediately after taking that timeout in the first the Hornets unleashed an 8-0 run off of the back of their defense and forcing turnovers.

Those transition baskets were a necessity not just to put some points on the board but to allow them to set up their full court press, which in turn played back into their ability to generate takeaways.

“This is tournament basketball. Everybody’s going to be good at what they do,” Hardy said. “You’ve got to execute your stuff and do it well. I think we just stayed true to who we were offensively and that allowed us to get some baskets and then that allowed us to press. If we don’t score, we can’t press, and when we can press we can create some turnovers and cause problems.”

JMA pushed back to begin the second by using that three-point gravity to drive, swing and generate wide open long balls. Westfield’s rotations didn’t make it over to shooters on more than one occasion, and the Trojans took a 30-18 lead after three minutes.

But the Hornets pulled the jackhammer back out and put on a 15-6 run heading into the break.

Westfield’s first play out of halftime was an Allen three to tie the game at 36. Doster got a feed down to Sammy McGehee six minutes later to take the lead with 1:40 left in the third. After going down 42-39 earlier in the quarter the Hornets again put on another run, this one 12-3 to take a six-point advantage into the fourth.

It hasn’t been an easy road for Hardy’s Hornets, but against the Trojans everyone had something to contribute whether it was on the boards, in the press or scoring the ball.

“Our year’s been kind of funky because Cannon [Allen] started the year hurt, Jack [Doster] was hurt to start the year,” Hardy said. “So our rotation was like six guys, and then it got to seven guys. Then Hudson [Hodge] got hurt over Christmas. We just never figured out that rotation.”

“We’ve been playing nine guys and it’s been kind of choppy,” He continued. “I told them before the game, you never come out because I’m aggravated with you, you come out because these guys on the bench have done something to earn playing time. I think they took that to heart tonight and they did what they needed to do…everybody did contribute something to the game tonight, so that was awesome.”

Westfield put on one more run in the fourth, 9-4, to help seal their quarterfinals date with Brookwood.

UP NEXT

Westfield will head up the road to First Presbyterian Day to play number one seed Brookwood on Feb. 21 at 3:30 p.m.