WESTBROOK – The Westbrook High School gym was packed on Tuesday night as the Bonny Eagle boys basketball team came to town for a big late-season matchup with the Blue Blazes.
The fans certainly got their money’s worth as the No. 9 Blue Blazes (8-9) battled the No. 3 Scots (14-3) tooth-and-nail in a very intense and exciting contest. It looked for quite a while that Westbrook was going to pull off the huge upset, but the Scots rode a 12-3 third quarter run to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and go on to a 51-45 win.
As they have done for most of the season, Cole Libby and Dustin Cole led the way for the Scots in the game. Cole shook off a scoreless first half to score 13 in the second half, including seven key free throws. Libby also had 13 points in the contest, including two from beyond the 3-point arc.
Westbrook got 13 points from David Breunig, 10 of those points coming in the second half as the Blazes tried to mount a comeback. Westbrook also got 10 points from Zack Bean and Nguot Nguot chipped in with eight.
Scot coach Phil Bourassa said that the win over the Blue Blazes was “huge.”
“(It’s) a road win, against a tough team, a very, very physical team,” Bourassa said. “They played tough, anytime you come in here and get a win, it’s a big one.”
From the outset, it looked like the Scots were going to blow the Blazes off their home floor as Bonny Eagle raced out to a 7-0 lead with 5:38 left to go in the first quarter. But Westbrook regrouped from there and went on a 25-11 run to close out the first half, taking the lead early in the second and pushing the advantage to 25-18 at the half.
“I thought we played one of our better halves of the season,” Westbrook coach Mark Karter said.
But the Scots weren’t about to go down without a fight and Bourassa spent the break making some defensive adjustments to quell the Blazes’ attack. “I got on them a little bit at halftime because I thought (Westbrook) was passing it around the perimeter a little too easily, and with our guards, that shouldn’t be possible,” he said.
Libby said the Scots were confident when they came out of the locker room to start the third. “Coming out of halftime, we knew it was our game, we just felt motivated,” he said.
The Scots’ adjustments worked as Bonny Eagle came out and started to shut down the Westbrook attack in the third, keeping the Blazes off the scoreboard. “I thought they came out in the third quarter and ratcheted up their defense, and we kind of took a step back,” Karter said. “Against good teams, you can’t be on your heels, and that pretty much allowed them to take control of the game.”
“We didn’t execute on offense,” Karter continued. “We talked about a lot of things, but we just couldn’t get the ball in good position for ourselves. I thought we forced a lot of things and they played much better defense in the third quarter, it took us out of everything we wanted to do.”
The other thing that hurt the Blazes was the fact that Bonny Eagle started to get a big offensive contribution from Cole, who had been kept scoreless throughout the first half. Cole had been getting his share of shots in the first, but they weren’t falling, he kept on shooting though, and eventually he found the touch. “You just have to keep shooting and knowing you’re going to make it,” Cole said. “You’ve always got to think you’re going to make the next one.”
The two teams continued to trade the lead into the fourth quarter, but with about four minutes to go, the Scots started to get some separation and Westbrook wasn’t able to come back as Cole hit several huge free throws in the game’s waning minutes to seal the victory for the Scots.
Bourassa said while he was happy with the win, he knows that the Scots need to keep on working if they want to go deep in the playoffs again this season. “A win is a win right now,” he said. “We’re trying to fix the little things and find better and easier ways to score. But right now defense is keeping us in the games, we’re pretty tough that way.”
The playoffs also beckon for the Blazes, but as the likely ninth seed, they will have to play a prelim game on the road before the real tournament action starts at the Portland Expo. Still, with wins over top teams like Portland and Thornton Academy and a good showing against the Scots, Karter said his young team could be a tough one in the postseason. “I think to make the playoffs for this group is a good accomplishment, and I also think if we’re hitting on all cylinders, we can be a dangerous team in the playoffs,” he said.
Bonny Eagle’s Cole Libby, who had 13 points on the night, drives
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