Westfield’s Justin Hebert (35) looks for an opening in the Amherst defense. (Photo by Chris Putz)
WESTFIELD – A Hurricane blew through the Whip City Tuesday night, leaving the Westfield High School boys’ basketball team a bit frazzled.
Amherst senior Tyler Peake (15 points) drained five first-half 3s, and the Hurricanes went on to defeat banged-up Westfield 52-47. The Bombers, who fell to 5-4 with the loss, were playing without guard Isaiah Headley (injured earlier this season) and forward Devin Wells (who has been day-to-day but sat out Tuesday’s game).
Amherst led 28-25 at the half, and entered the fourth quarter leading 44-32. Westfield went on an 11-2 run to begin the final quarter to pull within one point of a tie, or two points for the lead. But the Bombers came up empty on three trips down the floor.
“We just couldn’t get a bucket to fall,” Westfield coach Bill Daley said.
Amherst followed with a couple of big shots and held serve at the foul line to secure the victory.
D.J. Florek led Westfield with 11 points. Bombers’ Drew Kerr had nine.
Westfield, which now stands at 5-4, will need a full team effort next week to keep its playoff hopes intact. The Bombers host Putnam on Monday and Longmeadow on Tuesday before traveling to Chicopee Comp to take on the Colts on Thursday. They close out the week against East Longmeadow at home. All four games will tip off at 7 p.m.
“We have a big week ahead of us coming up,” coach Daley said. “We’ve got to play pretty good next week to get a chance to get into the (WMass D1) tournament.”
Teams in Western Massachusetts qualify for the postseason with a record of .500 or better, or by finishing first or second in their respective leagues.
Dean Tech 49, St. Mary 46
Justin Crosby led St. Mary with 21 points. Matt Plasse and Sam Thresher finished with eight and nine points, respectively, for the Saints.
Ware 54, Southwick-Tolland 51
Mark O’Neill and Dylan Grunwald led Southwick-Tolland with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Rams’ Matt Olson had nine.
Jake Hurlburt (29 points) and Zach Bissette (17) combined for 46 of Ware’s 54 points.
Belchertown 70, Gateway 28
Calvin Dowers scored a team-high 14 points for Gateway. Zach Parsons had 24 points to lead Belchertown.
“It was a real cold shooting night for us,” Gateway coach Mike O’Connell said.
JV BOYS’ BASKETBALL
Southwick 57, Ware 43
Nick Peterson (26 points), Derek Haskell (12), and Jacob Myers (7) led Southwick’s JV squad.
