Westview Pulls Away From Wawasee
SYRACUSE — The box score may show a 47-29 boys basketball victory for Westview over Wawasee Tuesday night, but Westview breathed a huge sigh of relief to get out of Syracuse comfortably.
The 18-point victory was only a seven-point advantage for the visiting Warriors early in the fourth quarter after Wawasee’s Aaron Voirol drilled a three. The 33-26 score nearly was cut to five after Stori Bright stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup, only to have been whistled to have stepped out of bounds.
Westview would then settle down and go on a 10-0 run to salt away the game, led by the wizardry of point guard Jordyn Bontrager. As he weaved in and out of Wawasee’s desperate traps, Bontrager hit four free throws down the stretch and even recorded a block in the process. Bontrager finished with 21 points to lead all scorers.
“Bontrager is a tremendous point guard,” stated Westview head coach Rob Yoder. “He takes care of the ball so well and is hard to guard. And he is smooth when he does it. He is always under control and helps us break pressure a little better than if we don’t have a point guard of his ability.”
Westview (17-1) jumped out to a 16-4 lead, holding Wawasee (5-13) scoreless for the first 10:19 of the ballgame. Wawasee would come back, slicing the lead to five at the half, capped by a fallback three from Bright at the halftime buzzer.
A bucket by Bright, followed by a steal from the busy sophomore led to a three from Gage Reinhard to bring Wawasee with two at 18-16. Wawasee hung around for most of the third quarter, but a three from Bontrager gave Westview a 31-23 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
Reinhard led Wawasee with 12 points and added three rebounds while Bright had five points, five rebounds and three steals. Chandler Aspy added 11 points and four boards for Westview despite sitting for a good portion of the second quarter with three fouls.
“We felt like defending their guys who were penetrating inside was key for us,” Yoder said. “Whether it was the guy making the drive or the person he kicked to. Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job covering them.
“Offensively, I don’t think we did all that well. We missed a lot of shots we shouldn’t have missed. Overall, we didn’t play well on the offensive end. And give Wawasee some credit for that with their traps and full court pickup. But the plays we should have finished, I don’t think we did very well with that tonight.”
Wawasee head coach Phil Mishler was not immediately available for comment following the game.
Westview will host Goshen Friday night while Wawasee will entertain Fort Wayne South Side, also Friday night.
In the JV contest, Westview’s stingy defense forced 15 Wawasee turnovers and pulled down 28 rebounds in a 44-23 win. Buchanan Carpenter led Westview with 15 points while Voirol paced Wawasee with 13 points.