Posted: Nov 02, 2018
| West LA Head Coach Anthony Jones came into the contest with Desert 1-0, on the young season. After both teams secured wins in their first games of the season, WEST would face College of the Desert in their own tournament. |
| With a solid core of sophomores, the Wildcats look to be both entertaining and successful in the 2018-19 season. |
| Derrick Woods' basket got things started early for West after a Terrell Waiters steal and assist. As the game went back and forth along the way, the Wildcats held the home standing Roadrunners in check. After Dwight Murray's 3 point bomb with 16:34 in the first half WEST took a 6-2. After the Roadrunners tied the score at 15, WEST called timeout. Baskets by Julian Ross and Waiters gave the Wildcats another 2 point lead. Woods connected on a 3 pointer after a rebound from Jad Smith and an assist by Ross. With Ross aware of the game clock, the 6'4 sophomore pushed the ball up the floor to Woods, who hit yet another 3 pointer as the halftime horn sounded. |
| As the second half began, Jeremy Hamilton's offensive rebound and put back gave the Wildcats a 41-38 lead. West LA's largest lead in the half was six, until a Jean Belizaire 3 pointer made it 62-51 with 11:38 remaining in the game. A Woods' free throw gave the men from Culver City an 11 point lead, but Desert never stopped fighting. A Roadrunner layup by Sam Skipper gave Desert the lead at 80-79 with only 14 seconds left in the game. History tell us moments like this, can define a season, After the Skipper basket, head coach Anthony Jones elected not to call timeout. The Wildcats pushed the ball past halfcourt quickly against Desert's confused defense. Some Roadrunners were in zone, while others were in man to man. Terrell Waiters went up the right side of the floor, leaving a pass for Dwight Murray. As Murray drew a double team, Waiters flared to the left wing where he recieved a skip pass. The sophomore guard drained the 3 pointer with only 2 seconds remaining in the game. West LA called a timeout to set up their defense for the last possession of the game. However, the Roadrunners couldn't get a shot off, failing to the Wildcats 82-80. |