Panthers Maul Tigers, 69-50

Westwood Moves to 8-0 in District 18-3A

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

WESTWOOD – The Westwood Panthers continued their dominance in District 18-3A as they moved to 8-0 on the season following their 69-50 thrashing of the Malakoff Tigers.

The Panthers opened up the game by pounding the ball inside to D’Michael Bellfield who put up 10 points from the paint. Jaren Turner knocked down five from the outside while Jailyn Tatum added a basket to give the Panthers a 17-18 lead after the first eight minutes of play.

JaQuaylon Hart paced Malakoff with seven first quarter points while a quartet of Tigers – RJ Carr, Andreas Garrett, Kederrius Thomas and Casey Wilson – all had two.

While the game was close through the first quarter, Westwood pulled away in the second thanks to five three-pointers and a two from Turner. Bellfield and Kolin Simon added four apiece and Javarus Simmons chipped in a bucket to make the halftime score 43-22.

The Tigers went cold from the field in the second quarter as they only managed seven points on a three from Wilson and twos from both Garrett and Jake Lee.

Following the halftime break, the second half saw the Panthers begin to use the clock to their advantage while still keeping the Malakoff offense in check. Hart dropped in five for the Tigers while Thomas had three, Wilson had two and Garrett had one.

Westwood’s third quarter scoring came from Bellfield with five, Simon with two and Simmons with one which made the score 51-33 with eight minutes remaining in the game.

Malakoff tried to make a miraculous, fourth quarter comeback but the Panthers were having none of it as they held off the Tigers to win by a final score of 69-50.

For the game, the Tigers were led in scoring by JaQuaylon Hart with 12 and Kederrius Thomas with 10 points. Andreas Garrett dropped in eight and Casey Wilson had seven. Other scorers for the Tigers included: RJ Carr with four; Eric Littleton with three; Klayton Copeland, Dedric Davis and Jake lee – all with two.

The Panthers were paced by Jaren Turner who had a game-high 28 points. D’Michael Bellfield pounded inside for 19 while both Javarus Simmons and Kolin Simon had nine. Devin Hickerson and Jailyn Tatum closed out the Westwood scoring with two apiece.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].