Clear Fork – Standing outside the locker room Tuesday night, Westside boys basketball head coach Thomas Evans appeared to be the one that played 32 minutes of aggressive basketball.
Turns out, the moisture was from a locker room celebration by his players.
“They felt the need to douse some water on me,” Evans said. “It’s my second year in this gig and it being my first big, signature-type win. I told them I would take them all day if they keep winning. They can soak me every game.”
The reason for the celebration was a 49-44 win over county rival Wyoming East in front of a packed and raucous crowd.
In a rivalry that always has some extra meaning in Wyoming County, one coach’s celebration was another’s frustration.
“We didn’t show up,” Wyoming East head coach Derek Brooks said. “They played harder than us. They wanted it more than us until about two minutes left, and then the game is almost over. You have to want it like that for 32 minutes.”
Kaiden Vance kick-started the Renegades with two straight hoops before Austin Bishop drilled a corner 3-ball for a quick 7-0 lead.
A floater from Cole Lambert stopped the run, but the home team still led 12-7 after one quarter.
With Wyoming East struggling to score, Westside advanced the lead to 16-7 midway through the second quarter.
“I don’t know how you don’t get up for a game like that from the beginning. I would have killed to play against pressure like that. The middle is wide open. You get it, attack and shots are wide open,” Brooks lamented. “We shot the ball very poorly, but we kept shooting them. They gave us those shots for a reason because we weren’t hitting them.”
Although the Warriors did not score for nearly six minutes, the rivals to the West failed take full advantage of the drought.
“I thought we came out really good. We shot the ball well and took care of the basketball,” Evans said. “All of a sudden we start turning the ball over. Silly stuff and unforced turnovers. We had walking calls, we were throwing balls away and literally dropping balls out of bounds. I told them we were just self-destructing. We were turning the ball over with no pressure.”
Eight points from Cole Lambert and a bucket from Braxton Morgan pulled Wyoming within three points at the break.
The Renegades started the second half hot thanks to the play of big man Bryson Blankenship and built an eight-point lead on a 3-pointer from Brayden French with 5:33 left in the quarter.
Wyoming East refused to go away and sparked by the play of Lambert, who scored 11 in the quarter, East sliced the lead to one point with 28 seconds to play in the third period.
The Warriors had a chance for a tie or a go-ahead 3-ball in the final seconds following a made free throw from Blankenship, but could not make the big play.
“Every time we got close tonight, we would get in that short corner, throw it to the middle and turn it over,” Brooks said. “Several times we are fading away backwards throwing the ball to the middle with two guys cutting in traffic.”
A steal by Coltin Lester and his ensuing short jumper in the lane to beat the buzzer sent the home crowd into a frenzy and restored the momentum to the home team.
Lester doubled down on big plays by opening the final quarter with a bucket and a huge 3-pointer to restore the biggest lead of the night at 39-30.
“When he pulled that 3-pointer, it was a momentum changer. In that moment, a lot is going to happen,” Evans said. “Coltin is a scorer. He has come off the bench and he doesn’t like it, but we need him off the bench to give us energy and scoring. He gives us flexibility and he was a difference maker tonight.”
A bucket from Lambert and a triple from Morgan made it 39-35 midway through the final quarter, but Westside was true from the line down the stretch to preserve the win.
“We have been about 64-to-65 percent from the line for the year and that is not a great percentage. Anything sub-70, I have problems with,” Evans said. “Tonight they made them when it counted. As a team we shot well.”
Balance was the key for the Renegades with Blankenship scoring 14 points, while French had 10 and Bishop added nine. Lester and Vance scored eight points each.
On the other side, it was Lambert doing all of the heavy lifting for the Warriors scoring 33 of the Warriors’ 44 points.
“He is that good. I have coached against Cole since he was in seventh grade,” Evans said. “I shook his hand, gave him a hug in the line and told him he just won’t go away. I have known his family for a long time. He is a really good player and he will play at the next level.”
With a chance to secure the No. 2 seed in the section and host a first round postseason game, the loss was extra frustrating for Brooks.
“It was a bad, bad night for us. We just felt like we could walk out on the floor and get a win. That is not the case and it will never be a case here (at Westside). It will never be the case here because those kids play hard,” Brooks said. “I am very frustrated right now. We had a chance to capitalize and get at least the No. 2 seed. I still think we should get it, but we will see.”
WE: 7 10 13 14 – 44
W: 12 8 14 15 – 49
Wyoming East
Cole Lambert 33, Bryson Huff 2, Braxton Morgan 7, Konnor Fox 2.
Westside
Austin Bishop 9, Bryson Blankenship 14, Kaiden Vance 8, Brayden French 10, Colton Lester 8.
