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02/25/2017 11:00 PMThe Westbrook boys’ basketball squad recently completed an excellent regular season and then brought that momentum into the Shoreline Conference Tournament, where the Knights used an explosive second half to dispatch Cromwell 77-48 in a quarterfinal contest at home on Feb. 25. Four days before its win against the Panthers, Westbrook posted a 67-56 victory at Old Saybrook that put the team’s regular season record at 18-2 and earned the Knights the top seed in the Shoreline Conference bracket.
Hosting 8th-seeded Cromwell in the Shoreline quarterfinals, Westbrook was struggling on offense and defense to start the game. As a result, the Panthers held an 18-12 lead after one. The Knights played better in the second quarter and closed the gap to 30-29 halftime. After making some adjustments on both sides of the ball, the Knights came out strong in the third quarter to outscore Cromwell 21-12. Westbrook went on to the lopsided victory by outpacing Cromwell 48-18 in the second half.
Westbrook took care of the ball and committed just three turnovers in the game. The Knights also moved the ball fluidly by dishing out assists on 25 of their 33 baskets. The Knights’ leading scorer was senior captain guard Cory Muckle with 25 points. Fellow senior captain guard Liam Bell scored 21 points, while contributing 10 assists. Meanwhile, senior forward Dave Amendola filled the stat sheet with 16 points, 12 boards, and six assists. Additionally, senior guard Austin Herzy gathered seven rebounds.
The Knights were overjoyed to earn their resounding win against Cromwell and avenge their loss at the hands of the Panthers in last year’s Shoreline tourney. This year marked the first time Knights beat Cromwell during the regular season in Head Coach Jeff Beeman’s tenure.
“Whatever talent they have, they always use it to the max,” said Coach Beeman. “They will run through a wall against you, and they just execute, execute, execute.”
The Knights also had a difficult time in the first quarter of their regular season finale against Old Saybrook and trailed the Rams 22-13 after one. Westbrook started to get its offense going in the second quarter and led 31-29 at halftime. The Knights held onto their lead by outscoring Old Saybrook 36-27 in the second half on their way to the 67-56 victory.
Muckle led Westbrook in scoring with 17 points and also dished out four assists, while Amendola added 15 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Herzy provided nine points and hauled in eight boards, plus Bell had nine points and six assists for the Knights.
Coach Beeman identified Westbrook’s offensive woes pretty quickly in the first quarter. The team’s read-and-react offense depends on players moving with and without the ball, and that wasn’t happening for the Knights.
“Our offense is motion, both ball and people. We didn’t have any ball movement, and we didn’t have any people movement. That’s why we were down in the first quarter,” said Beeman. “When we got back to our offense, we were back in the game.”
Beeman added that Westbrook’s offense is also heavily dependent its defense. The defensive philosophy that Beeman and his coaching staff drill into their players is as much about stopping the ball from getting to the hoop as it is about securing the defensive rebound.
“We have to be ready and play defense all the way through to the rebound,” he said. “Defense doesn’t stop until you have possession, and our guys are so good in the open court that those rebounds often turn into lay-ups at the other end. We like lay-ups.”
These strategies have proved key to Westbrook’s success to this point in the season. Coach Beeman had high hopes coming into the campaign, knowing the makeup of his team and his athletes’ familiarity with each other.
“We have a nine-man rotation of legitimate varsity players, which is not common for a school of 150 kids,” said Beeman. “It’s a senior-laden team, and eight of them have been playing together since they were little kids.”
With his personnel in place, Coach Beeman set some lofty goals for the Knights at the outset of the season, and the Knights have put themselves in position to achieve them.
“Our goal was to win the most games possible in the regular season and get the highest, seed so that we are in a good position come the postseason,” said Beeman, whose squad is 19-2 overall. “We wanted to win in the regular season, then win the Shorelines, and we’d love to win states. We’ve never done any of those things, and we’re trying to see if we can pull all three this season.”
Those intentions were put into jeopardy before the season even began when Herzy, a projected starter, tore several ligaments in one of his thumbs. Coach Beeman and the Knights were told that Herzy would be out for the remainder of the season. However, as a testament to Westbrook’s depth, senior forward Matt Ossa slotted into the starting lineup, and the team didn’t miss a beat. Westbrook was even able to go on a 15-game win streak during the season.
Fortunately for the Knights, Herzy shook off the season-ending diagnosis by having surgery on his hand as soon as he could and, after working hard to rehabilitate the injury, he rejoined the team against Amistad on Feb. 1. Ossa went to the bench when Herzy returned, but typical of the Knights’ team-first mentality, he did so willingly because he knew it was the right move for the squad.
“Those are the kind of players that we have,” said Beeman. “They’ll be there and do whatever is necessary to help the team get a win.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the postseason, Coach Beeman believes in this group of players wearing the Westbrook purple and silver. The Knights have proven that they’re one of the top teams in the Shoreline Conference, and they appear poised to make a significant run. Following the Shoreline Conference Tournament, Westbrook will compete in the Class S State Tournament next week.
“If you have better players and you execute better, then you will probably win,” Beeman said. “We have the players and the talent to do it.”
From the Sidelines
At the end of the regular season, Cory Muckle led the Knights in scoring with 21.6 points per game. Liam Bell was tops in assists and steals with 5.1 and 2.5 per game, respectively. Leading the team in rebounds was Dave Amendola with 9.3 per game. Muckle and Bell both scored their 1,000th career point for Westbrook this season.
Westbrook’s wins regular season wins came against Cromwell (52-41), Old Lyme (72-44 and 83-55), Coginchaug (61-47), Old Saybrook (82-70 and 67-56), Portland (83-52 and 97-67), East Hampton (57-50), Creed (54-50 and 89-67), Hale-Ray (58-40 and 78-45), Valley Regional (62-51), Morgan (70-43), Haddam-Killingworth (86-61), Amistad (63-54), and Wilcox Tech (84-72).
The Knights’ two losses were versus East Hampton (61-54) and North Branford (56-53).
Westbrook faces off against No. 4 seed Old Saybrook in the Shoreline Conference Tournament semifinals at home on Tuesday Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. If the Knights defeat the Rams, they will move on to the final to play the winner of East Hampton and Coginchaug at Morgan on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m.