After a messy start to the game, the boys varsity team found its stride in the second half to run away with a 57-42 win over former District foe Anderson.

The Chaps were given a warm reception after being away for the Thanksgiving break to play in the Thanksgiving Hoopfest in Duncanville, TX, and they were glad to continue their home dominance. Their last home loss came Nov. 17, 2015 against Aggieland Homeschool.

“It’s always nice to play at home, and it’s nice to be back,” junior Brock Cunningham said.

Brock played a big role in the team’s win with timely buckets and a game-high 17 points. In a night when scoring was at a premium for long stretches of the game, the points were even more valuable.

The game started with a frantic pace that led to both teams committing turnovers and neither able to get comfortable in their offense. The Chaps did their part to disrupt Anderson’s flow with full court pressure and trapping in the half court.

“I thought [Anderson] were uncomfortable for most of the game,” head coach Robert Lucero said. “They’re familiar with how we guard so they did some stuff on ball-screens to get into the paint, but they didn’t necessarily convert at a high rate. Overall, holding a team to two points in a quarter was good and 42 for a game is something we’ll take. If we can hold teams to that as an average, we’ll take that.”

While the scoring did pick up in the second quarter, it wasn’t until the second half that either team really found its shooting touch. Westlake would build itself a 10 point lead in the third and continued to pressure Anderson through the fourth. The Trojans scored late buckets to get their final score up to 42, but with a young team, they never truly seemed primed for a comeback.

“We have a lot of young guys playing minutes and with that comes the responsibility of playing varsity ball which is new to them,” Trojans head coach Daniel Pittsford said. “We knew we were going to take some lumps early on just because we had some youth, but I felt we did pretty well tonight. Moving forward, it’s a great experience for them.”