By Mike Goodson/Sports Correspondent
Westbrook Christian earned a trip to the Northeast Regional Basketball Tournament with a hard-fought 74-68 win over Weaver in the Class 3A subregional playoffs on Tuesday (Feb. 16) in Rainbow City.
The Warriors (30-3) take on New Hope at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Jacksonville State.
The victory avenged an 11-point loss to Weaver earlier this season in the championship game of the Gadsden State Holiday Tournament.
“Weaver has a strong team and plays so hard,” said Westbrook head coach Donnie Pruitt. “I knew this was a tough match-up. I’m proud of the way we came back after Weaver jumped out to a nine-point lead early in the first half.
“Weaver was just beating us up and down the court. We have a good, solid bunch of kids and we fought back after making some mistakes.”
After building a 20-17 lead after one quarter, Weaver scored the first six points of the second period to take their biggest edge of the game at 26-17.
The Warriors went on a 16-2 run to close the second, capped by a basket by Kyle Leonard with 11 seconds left, to take a 33-28 lead into the break.
Westbrook increased its lead to 51-40 after three periods of play and held on as Weaver mounted one last fourth quarter charge to take the six-point.
Westbrook placed four players in double figures, led by Kyle Edwards’ 22 points. He also had four assists.
Chandler Richards finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Kyle Leonard added 12 points and seven assists. Luke Graham added 10 points and five rebounds.
Will Jones chipped in eight points, while Gilbert Rosas pulled down five rebounds.
Elijah Arnold led Weaver with 16 points.