One could understand if Westfall coach Christian Meister took a deep breath of relief on Tuesday following a Division III Southeast District sectional semifinal.
After seeing his Mustangs lose tournament heartbreakers 59-58 in overtime to Lynchburg-Clay last season and 54-53 to Chesapeake in 2021, a balanced effort where seven players scored at least seven points helped Westfall secure a 75-63 win over the visiting Piketon Redstreaks.
“It was great to get a tournament win tonight for our group,” Meister said. “The last two seasons we have lost heartbreakers at the buzzer in the first round of the tournament.”
Casey Cline led the way with a game-high 22 points and also chipped in five rebounds. Blaec Bugher contributed 14 points and dished out five assists, Brody Clark had 10 points, Henry Barnes tallied eight points and six rebounds, and Jerry Layton, Seth Gifford and Brydan Gall added seven points apiece. Layton and Gifford also combined for 14 rebounds, with eight of those coming courtesy of Layton.
The Mustangs defeated the Redstreaks for the second time in 12 days and claimed the rubber match in the season-series by outscoring their Scioto Valley Conference rival 43-26 over the middle quarters of action.
Entering the second quarter trailing 17-16, the Mustangs led by as many as 12 points during the stanza before settling for a 37-31 lead going into halftime.
Brydan Gall made a pair of three-pointers to get the Redstreaks out of their zone defense and Bugher added five points in the period.
The Mustangs extended their advantage to 59-43 headed into the final period of play.
Six players scored in the period, led by Cline draining two of his four three-pointers on the night, Bugher tallying five points and Layton adding four. Bugher capped the period with a buzzer-beating drive to the basket.
Declan Davis had 18 points, and Weston Bloss and Brent McGuire added 10 apiece for the Redstreaks (7-16).
The Mustangs (14-9), winners of five straight games, travel to fifth-seeded Lucasville Valley (17-6) on Saturday for a sectional final.
“It was a complete and total team effort,” Meister said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our unselfishness. We are going to need another team effort if we are going to get the job done on Saturday against a really good team.”
Division III Southeast District
sectional semifinal
No. 12 Westfall 75,
No. 21 Piketon 63
PIKETON — Weston Bloss 3-1-10, Owen Armstrong 2-0-4, Brent McGuire 4-0-10, Garrett Legg 3-2-9, Declan Davis 7-1-18, Gabe Lamerson 3-0-6, Bo Henry 2-2-6. Three-point goals — Bloss (3), Davis (3), McGuire (2) and Legg. Total — 24-50 6-8 63.
WESTFALL — Brody Clark 4-1-10, Casey Cline 7-4-22, Blaec Bugher 5-3-14, Brydan Gall 2-1-7, Henry Barnes 2-2-6, Seth Gifford 4-1-9, Jerry Layton 3-1-7. Three-point goals — Cline (4), Gall (2), Clark and Bugher. Total — 27-65 13-19 75.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Piketon 17 14 12 20 63
Westfall 16 21 22 16 75
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