OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg
Westfield’s Braylon Swanson is guarded by Southwestern’s Roger Markham while attempting to drive the basket during the semifinals of tournament action in West Ellicott on Friday night.
WEST ELLICOTT — It’s not unusual to find Landon Hooks in the gym early in the morning year-round getting shots up.
Friday night his hard work paid off.
The senior guard scored 17 points to lead Southwestern to a 58-53 victory over Westfield in the opening round of the Southwestern Tournament.
Roger Markham and Colton Waite added 11 points apiece and the Trojans did just enough on the offensive glass in the closing minutes to keep the Wolverines at bay.
The win advances Southwestern (1-1) into the championship game at 6 p.m. today against Ellicottville (1-1), which knocked off Frewsburg (0-2) 51-42 in the other first-round game. Westfield (0-1) will take on the Bears at 3 p.m.
“Ellicottville definitely looked like they’ve got all the right pieces — a big guy and a couple of guys who can shoot it,” Trojans head coach Aaron Emley said. “We’re at our best when we’re running in the open floor.”
Meanwhile, Westfield, which won a Section VI Class C title last year, was led by Lincoln Thomas with 14 points. Grant Beadle had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Braylon Swanson added 10 points, six assists and three steals.
“That’s a good team,” Emley said of the Wolverines. ” … They definitely showed they’re used to playing at a high level. I think they’ll be tough in their division.”
The game was close throughout. Behind six 3-pointers in the first half, including four in the first quarter, the Wolverines led 32-30 at intermission. Southwestern regained the lead 45-43 after three quarters and led 55-53 with 1:36 remaining following a made free throw by Westfield’s Noah Tuah.
After that, however, the Wolverines didn’t score another point.
A missed layup led to a transition bucket by the Trojans’ Carter Casselman with 56 seconds remaining to push Southwestern’s lead to 57-53 and Hooks hit one of two free throws with 10 seconds left to close out the scoring.
“I’m just really proud of them that they pushed through and finished the way they did,” Emley said.
Emley was also pleased with the collective rebounding effort of Casselman (12 boards), Colton Waite (11 boards) and Oscar Harris (seven boards).
“We got a big performance out of Casselman,” the veteran coach said.
Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson was pleased with his team’s effort, too.
“Awesome, I’m really happy with them,” he said. “It’s no good to have a (loss), but the fact we lost so much last year and we just showed that we can compete with a much bigger school than ours is a good sign for our division and our league.”
ELLCOTTVILLE 51, FREWSBURG 42
Ellicottville went on an 11-2 run in the final four minutes to post a 51-42 victory over Frewsburg in the first game.
Dominic Polino led a balanced Eagles’ attack with 13 points, Blake Smith added 11, Rylan Benjamin chipped in 10 and Parker John had 9.
For the Bears, Isaac Hultberg led the way with 16 points, six rebounds and five steals; Trent Lewis chipped in 6 points, six rebounds, four steals, five assists and a block; and Drake Beckstrom collected 8 points and 13 rebounds.
The Eagles led by as many 15 points early in the second half, courtesy of a 18-0 run over a nearly eight-minute span, but Frewsburg didn’t quit, closing the deficit to 34-28 heading into the final period.
“We know we’re a team that has to take care of the ball and play really good defense,” Bears head coach Kyle Nelson said. “We had 14 turnovers in the first half, and when we do that it’s not a recipe for success.”
In the fourth quarter, Frewsburg tied the game 40-all following a putback by Beckstrom with 3:50 remaining.
“We took care of the ball in the second half (only seven turnovers),” Nelson said. “Our defense led to our offense, which is what we want, and that’s how we were able to battle back.”
But the Bears managed just two points in the final four minutes and Benjamin sealed the win for the Eagles by going 4 for 4 from the charity stripe in the final 20 seconds.
“We have a lot of potential with this team,” Nelson said. “We just have to put four quarters together. … If we can start learning how to put four quarters together, we can play with anybody.”
FREWSBURG (42)
Cusimano 0 0 0, Weaver 1 0 3, Signorino 1 0 2, Lewis 2 2 6, Beckstrom 3 2 8, Hultberg 6 3 16, Collver 3 1 7, Munday 0 0 0. Totals 16 8 42.
ELLICOTTVILLE (51)
Benjamin 2 6 10, Myers 3 0 7, Trado 0 0 0, Smith 5 1 12, John 3 2 9, Polino 6 1 13. Totals 19 10 51.
3-point goals–Weaver, Hultberg, Myers, Smith, John.
Frewsburg 11 6 11 14 — 42
Ellicottville 14 12 8 17 — 51
WESTFIELD (53)
Paddock 3 0 8, Baum 1 0 3, Stein 0 0 0, Tuah 1 1 3, Swanson 4 0 10, Thomas 5 0 14, Anderson 2 0 4, Ramm 0 0 0, Beadle 5 1 11. Totals 21 2 53.
SOUTHWESTERN (58)
Harris 2 0 5, Hooks 8 1 17, Edwards 2 2 6, Charles 1 0 2, Waite 4 1 11, Markham 5 1 11, Casselman 3 0 6. Totals 25 5 58.
3-point goals–Paddock 2, Baum, Swanson 2, Thomas 4, Harris, Waite 2.
Westfield 16 16 11 10 — 53
Southwestern 14 16 15 13 — 58
