MUMFORD — Junior guard Mack Martin has made it a habit of starting halves strong in the playoffs. In the last two rounds of the playoffs, he’s averaging nearly 10 points in the first quarter.
That trend continued into both the first and third quarters Tuesday night at Mumford High School.
Martin led the Chaps in scoring, putting up 23 points, with 21 of those coming in the opening moments of each half. Westlake (32-6), routed Cypress Falls (30-6), 59-27, including a 16-0 run to start the third.
“It felt amazing,” Martin said. “I was working all in the dark, nobody watching me. It’s paying off right here.”
Aside from Martin, it was sophomore guard Hayes Goldman also making a huge impact, finishing with 10 points and two blocks. Guard defenders played a huge part in holding the Eagles to 27 points, their lowest total of the entire season.
“It starts in practice,” senior guard Blake Cannatti said. “We push each other in practice. You see Hayes making these big plays, defensive rebounds and big hustle plays, it’s just how hard we push each other in practice.”
The Chaps left no doubt from the start, opening up the game with a 15-7 lead, and carrying that eight-point lead into the second quarter. Martin hit a pair of triples, and senior guard Bo Ogden added another, setting the tone for a dominant night of shooting.
“Mack can shoot it,” head coach Robert Lucero said. “We all know Mack can shoot it. He got going, he felt it, and he didn’t mess around with the ball. Every time he lets it go, I always think it’s going in.”
Despite Ogden not being the center of attention every possession, he had a complete game, putting up 16 points to go along with 18 boards and seven assists, taking away defenders from Martin.
“Bo is an amazing player,” Martin said. “He has a lot of gravity, which makes my life easier. Him having that much gravity creates better, more opportunities for me.”
In the second quarter, the Chaps earned nine of their 15 points off of and-ones. Goldman scored the first, and bookended an Ogden three-point play with his second. An Ogden triple and Cannatti’s scoop-and-score led the Chaps to take a 15-point lead into the half.
“He’s such a hooper,” Lucero said. “Hayes has been in the program, in the community for so long, it was good to see him get out there and play so well.”
In the first few minutes of the third quarter, the game got out of hand in a hurry. Martin came out of the break and dropped in back-to-back-to-back treys. He finally missed one on the fourth possession, but an offensive rebound led to a second chance, where Ogden converted on a triple of his own. Following that, Martin hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game.
It was a stark contrast to a week ago against Clemens, where they were outscored in the third quarter by eight. The Buffaloes cut a 23-point lead all the way down to four at one point. Cy Falls didn’t have the same success, being outscored 19-10 in the third frame.
“We definitely talked about that at halftime,” Cannatti said. “Knowing what happened in round two against Clemens, where we really started slow in the second half and let them back into the game. We weren’t gonna let that happen again, so we started fast and built momentum.”
Three years ago, the UIL playoff format changed drastically. Before then, the final four was played on back-to-back days, with all three games taking place at the Alamodome. Now, they are four days apart, with the semifinals being held at a neutral site and the championship at the Alamodome.
Lucero appreciates the change.
“I think the prep between games is good for us,” Lucero said. “When you have back-to-back semifinals and finals, you don’t always get the game prep. For us to be on a normal schedule allows us to have normal prep.”
The Chaps take on Little Elm in the final game of the high school season Saturday at 7 pm at the Alamodome. The Lobos are top-20 in the country, and carry a 22-game winning streak into San Antonio. The Chaps have their sights set on claiming the first State Championship in program history.
“The job’s not finished,” Cannatti said.
