Westfield’s D.J. Florek (4) blocks Longmeadow’s Michael Lemke. (Photo by Chris Putz)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School boys’ basketball team is off and running.
Westfield won its first in a 9-game, 15-day stretch, defeating visiting Longmeadow 52-48 Tuesday night. But, more importantly, the Bombers improved to 6-4 to remain above .500.
After leading comfortably in single digits throughout, Westfield fell behind late 48-45 with under a minute to go. But senior guard Casey Willey hit a 3 with 50 seconds remaining to it at 48-all. Willey made two free throws in the waning seconds to ice the game.
“We got through it – our first game of the week,” Westfield coach Bill Daley said. “We could have folded … but we made some big plays down the stretch.”
Westfield’s Devin Wells, who finished with a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), grabbed a key rebound in the final minute and made 1-of-2 from the free throw line. Tim Donahue also had 13 for the Bombers.
“We have a long way to go offensively,” Daley said.
Longmeadow’s Keegan Dudeck and Michael Lemke finished with 15 points apiece.
St. Mary 73, Westfield Voc-Tech 33
Sam Thresher (22 points), Matt Plasse (17), and Brendan Mickaley (11) each scored in double-digits to lead St. Mary. Saints’ Brendan Gawron had eight points.
Nelson Roque led Voc-Tech with 12 points.
Hampshire 52, Gateway 44
Curtis Dowers (19 points) and Calvin Dowers (11) led the Gateway attack. Gators’ Justin Edinger had a fantastic all-around game, finishing with eight points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and four blocks.
“We played a great game today,” Gateway coach Mike O’Connell said. “We just came up a little bit short.”
GIRLS’ HOOPS
Southwick-Tolland 42, Commerce 13
Morgan Harriman led Southwick with 10 points, Lindsay Wilcox and Jackie Maziarz each had eight, and Cassie Bay delivered a career-high seven.
“It was a good carryover from last week’s win against Putnam,” Southwick coach Mike Gill said. “It was a good win.”
Pioneer Valley Christian School 40, Westfield Voc-Tech 24
“We played a really good half of basketball,” said Voc-Tech coach Matt Seklecki. “Unfortunately, we really played one good half.”
Voc-Tech rallied from a 13-5 first-quarter deficit to pull within 19-15 at the half, before PVCS went on a 13-4 run in the third quarter.
“We were doing pretty well and then the wheels fell off in the third quarter,” Seklecki said.
Nadine Tran finished with a team-high six points on two 3-pointers.
JV GIRLS’ HOOPS
Southwick-Tolland 42, Commerce 2
Natalie Jensen was the offensive player of the game for Southwick, which also played a suffocating half-court defense throughout.
