WEST BRANCH STAYING LOCKED IN
By Matt Maher
GIRARD, OH – The red hot Warriors made their way out to Girard for an end of season tuneup against the Indians. After a fairly close 1st quarter, the Warriors continued to outscore Girard and found themselves with a 65-40 victory. West Branch fought hard with great defensive coverage and took advantage of most of their possessions while Girard had their struggles.
The Warriors started out the night by winning the opening tip and quickly converting the first 2 points and while Girard did have a response it wasn’t nearly as powerful as what West Branch was showing and the frame ended 19-11 in favor of the Warriors. The 3 ball was the specialty for Girard in the first quarter with Kaiden Clare hitting two of them to get 6 of his 8 points and a third coming from Melvin Dixon. While Girard specialized from beyond the arc, West Branch was hard to tame in the paint, finding 7 of their field goals from within the arc with Gavin Gregory scoring four of them. Camden Lane found the first 3 of the game for West Branch and went 1-for-2 from the charity Stripe as well.
Both teams slowed down the offensive output in the 2nd quarter with West Branch finding 16 to Girards 7. Dom Philips found 4 points with a layup and 1 as well as putting up 1-of-2 later down the stretch, Nick Rafferty found another 3 ball for the Indians as well. Cooper Anderson found three 2’s to lead his team with 6 points in the frame while Ricky Hendershott followed Anderson with 5 points including another 3 for his team.
Girard had a better 2nd half and started it out with a 10 point 3rd quarter that came up just 3 points shy of West Branches 13 points. The Indians found four scores from four different sources: Dixon and Stephen Sims both put up 2’s and Cam Herrick and Rafferty both shot from range and put up a combined 6 points. Jaxon Robb was the leader for West branch in the 3rd, with 7 points that came from two 2’s and a good 3-for-4 from the line he helped his team keep Girard at bay.
The Indians had their highest scoring quarter yet with a 12 point 4th. While Girard was reaching new heights late in this game, West Branch was staying put and scored 16 points to really put this one to bed. The Indians yet again found all their scoring from four different sources but this time all of them each hit a 3, Ahmad Curd, Nick Rafferty, Chris Cardiero and Cam Herrick all found buckets for Girard. West Branch spread the wealth as well with 7 different players all scoring at least 1 point with Gregory leading the cause with 4 points and Lane adding one last triple.
Girard was excellent from beyond the arc on Friday night but it wasn’t enough to take down one of the top teams in our area. West Branch found themselves in some favorable spots throughout the game and that was due in part to their excellent play making as well as some less than desirable coverage from their opponent. West Branch (17-3) will stay on the road when they face Boardman on February 20th at 7:00PM while Girard (2-19) will finish off their season at LaBrae on the 20th as well at 7:00PM.
