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03/11/2017 11:00 PMThe Westbrook boys’ basketball team's playoff run has taken the Knights to Mohegan Sun to play for Class S state title. On March 16, Westbrook blew out Aerospace 80-51 in a Class S State Tournament semifinal at Polson Middle School in Madison to advance to face Trinity Catholic for the crown. The top-seeded Knights (25-2) will tip off against No. 6 Trinity Catholic (19-5) at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 18 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. This marks the first time that Westbrook, which recently won the Shoreline Conference Tournament title, will play in a state final. Trinity Catholic posted a 67-60 victory over Waterbury Career to reach the championship game.
Previously in the Class S State Tournament, Westbrook hosted No. 32 Portland for a first round matchup on March 7 and prevailed 72-56. Two days later, the Knights upended No. 16 seed Lyman Memorial by a 73-42 final in a second round home game. After that, Westbrook hosted No. 8 seed St. Paul in the Class S quarterfinals on March 13 and came away with an 86-68 victory.
Westbrook started states by facing Shoreline Conference opponent Portland for the third time this season and outscored the Highlanders 20-13 in the opening period. In the second quarter, Portland crept within three points by attacking on defense and crashing the offensive glass. The first half ended with Westbrook clinging to a 31-28 lead. However, just like they’ve done throughout the postseason, the Knights came out of the locker room ready to put the game away in the third quarter, and they outpaced the Highlanders 18-7 in the frame en route to their 72-56 victory.
Westbrook Head Coach Jeff Beeman warned his players to be ready for anything against Portland due to the team’s familiarity with his squad.
“It’s always difficult to beat any team three times and that’s what we had to do. We beat them handily the first two games and I told the kids that they would make some adjustments and try different things against us,” said Beeman. “They were all over us on the defensive and offensive glass. I thought they outplayed us on the hustle plays, but our talented players did enough for us to get the win.”
Senior captain Liam Bell notched a double-double by scoring a team-high 23 points to go with 12 rebounds, while senior center Max Morris also had 12 boards for the Knights. Senior captain Cory Muckle was hot on Bell’s heels as he poured in 21 points and added four assists. Fellow senior Austin Herzy, a guard, scored 11 points and hauled in eight rebounds.
So after facing a team they’d already seen a few times, the Knights hosted an opponent that they hadn’t seen at all in non-conference foe Lyman Memorial. However, that didn’t faze the Knights, who jumped out to 32-7 advantage following the first quarter. Defense was on display for Beeman’s bunch in the first half as Westbrook held the Bulldogs to just 10 points. Lyman Memorial got its offense going a bit in the second half, but it was too little, too late, as the Knights cruised to a 73-42 victory to advance to the quarterfinal round.
By establishing such a large lead so early, Coach Beeman was able to rest Dave Amendola for another game. The senior center was injured in the Shoreline Conference Tournament final against East Hampton and, even though he was cleared to play last week, Beeman knew that it made sense to play it safe and keep Amendola on the bench with the big lead.
Beeman also said that wasn’t sure what to expect against the Bulldogs, but he was certainly pleased with the result.
“We had a partial scouting report on Lyman Memorial, but were not sure about the tendencies on offense and defense. Fortunately, we came out on fire offensively and scored 32 first quarter points and never looked back,” he said. “What I was most happy about was our defensive effort and rebounding in the first half.”
There were plenty of rebounds to go around as Westbrook pulled down 50 boards in the victory versus Lyman Memorial. Bell had another double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and he came close to a triple-double by dishing out eight assists. Muckle led all scorers with 26 points to complement his seven rebounds. Morris and junior Vincent Dyer both had seven rebounds, while Herzy contributed eight rebounds with four dimes.
While Coach Beeman was pleased to see his team come away with a dominating victory, he knows that the most important thing for the Knights is to simply stay alive in states one way or the other.
“This time of the year, it’s a matter of just scoring more points than the other team,” said Beeman. “One point or 30 points—you just take the win any way you can.”
Facing St. Paul in the quarterfinals, the Knights grabbed an 18-11 advantage after the first quarter and led 34-27 at halftime. Westbrook outscored St. Paul 25-16 in the third quarter on its way to the 86-68 victory. Bell scored 29 points to with 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Muckle had 25 points and four steals for Westbrook. Austin Herzy added 14 points with eight boards, plus Jack Hayes chipped in with six points in the win.
In its semifinal contest against 12th-seeded Aerospace (16-9), Westbrook stormed out to double-digit lead in the first quarter and was up 18-9 after one, but Aerospace came back with a big run to take a one-point edge during the second. However, the Knights controlled the rest of the period to hold a 35-30 halftime advantage and then dominated the second half by outscoring Aerospace 45-21 en route to the resounding win. Muckle hit six three-pointers and scored 29 points, while Bell drained five from downtown and netted 20 points for Westbrook. Amendola had 17 points with 10 rebounds to aid the Knights.