Caleb Graul provided an opening burst of excitement and a big run to close the game by Westfall capped off a 69-48 Scioto Valley Conference win on Friday over the visiting Piketon Redstreaks.
The Mustangs honored their five seniors — Casey Cline, Blaec Bugher, Seth Gifford, Isaiah Browning and manager Caleb Graul.
Graul started alongside the seniors and drained a 25-foot three from the left wing that shook the Dome with a thunderous ovation from the Westfall faithful. Graul was then mobbed by his teammates in celebration on the other end of the floor.
“We honored our five seniors and came out with a big win,” Westfall coach Christian Meister said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this class as a group. Our five seniors have been instrumental in the building of our culture here at Westfall. It was great to honor them with a win.”
Cline poured in a game-high 24 points for the Mustangs and also accounted for seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Seth Gifford followed with 12 points, eight rebounds and six steals, Brody Clark had 12 points, three assists and three steals, and Bugher dished out six assists to go with his 11 points.
The Mustangs (13-9, 10-4) used the energy created by Graul’s three to go on a 22-12 run to open the game.
Cline drained six of his nine field goals during the opening stanza, including drilling a quartet of tree-pointers.
Piketon (6-15, 4-10) responded in the second quarter with a 21-12 run to shave its deficit to only a point at 34-33.
Westfall dominated the final 12 minutes, including holding Piketon scoreless for approximately the final nine minutes of the contest. Overall, Westfall outscored Piketon 35-15 in the second half.
Five players contributed to a 20-point third quarter for the Mustangs. Cline added two more threes, one from behind-the-arc and the other the old-fashioned way. Clark followed with five points and Gifford added a pair of baskets.
Bugher led the way with six points in the fourth and Clark chipped in five, including hitting his second triple of the second half.
“We started fast offensively and our defense caught up later,” Meister said. “Until about the middle of the third quarter this game was deadlocked back and forth. We went on a big run fueled by our defense in the middle of the third quarter to put the game away.”
Declan Davis scored 13 points, and Garrett Legg and Bo Henry added eight apiece to lead the Redstreaks.
The two conference rivals split the season series and will decide the overall winner when Piketon returns to Pherson on Feb. 21 as the two teams open tournament action.
Westfall 69, Piketon 48
PIKETON — Weston Bloss 2-0-5, Owen Armstrong 1-0-3, Brent McGuire 1-2-4, Jayden Thacker 1-0-2, Garrett Legg 1-6-8, Declan Davis 4-2-13, Gabe Lemerson 2-0-5, Bo Henry 3-2-8. Three-point goals — Davis (3), Bloss, Armstrong and Lemerson. Total — 15 12-15 48
WESTFALL — Brody Clark 5-0-12, Casey Cline 9-1-24, Blaec Bugher 5-1-11, Brydan Gall 1-0-2, Seth Gifford 6-0-12, Jerry Layton 4-0-8. Three-point goals — Cline (5), Clark (2). Total — 30 2-3 69.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Piketon 12 21 9 6 48
Westfall 22 12 20 15 69
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