By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The West Salem Boys Basketball team really turned it on in the second half against Western Christian on Friday night as both teams opened the Capitol City Classic.
The Titans led 27-22 at halftime, the Pioneers had drawn charges and limited West Salem to get out in transition to keep this game close going into the second half.
At last year’s CCC, Western Christian pulled the upset of the tournament when they defeated Chatsworth and, despite losing some key parts from last year’s 2A State Championship squad, were looking to make it two-years-in-a-row.
“We focused on defense. Our defense was really our catalyst in the first half, and that was the message through the game,” said Western Christian Head Coach Geoffrey Martin. “We knew how fast they are, they’re a really fast team, incredible athletes, so we knew we had to slow them down. We were able to, got them in some early foul trouble and really made them take their time.
“And that worked well for us and we worked the ball well and then in the third quarter we played right into their hands.”
But then the Titans came out, with their adjustments, and were able to get those transition points off turnovers, avoided those charge calls and it translated into points into a big way.
By the end of the third quarter, West Salem led 53-22. A 26-0 third quarter that swung momentum in favor of the Titans and gave West Salem their first victory of the season.
“We just got to playing off two feet so they can’t take charges and push in transition so they can’t set up in their zone. We had to beat them to it,” said West Salem’s Jonah Munns. “We’re just taking this game and move onto the next. We got a lot more games and we got a tough one next one.”
Sammy Quesada led Western Christian with ten points, Munns led the Titans with 19 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
