Santana Turner (1) makes the difficult baseline attempt. | Leroy Howard
COLUMBIA – The Westwood boys had a tough task ahead of them on Tuesday night in the form of Hammond Skyhawks. The dangerous trio of Russell Jones Jr, Kendall Wormack and Tyrrell Huff powered the Redhawks to a close 77-71 victory. The three combined for 53 points.
Josh Lipsitz had the hot hand in the early going for Hammond, and he helped the Skyhawks earn an early 23-19 lead. They continued to look in charge through the second quarter, and at halftime Hammond was up 39-32. Lipsitz had 16 of his game-high 26 points in the first half.
Westwood knocked down four three-pointers in the third quarter and trimmed the lead to 52-55 before the start of the fourth. Kendall Wormack guided the Redhawks’ fourth-quarter charge to the lead. Wormack had 12 of his team’s final 22 points. The Redhawk defense locked down, as the Skyhawks could only muster together 12 points in the final quarter.
Wormack had a team high 19, Jones Jr had 18 and Huff was close in behind with 16 points of his own.
WHS: 19-13-23-22-77
HS: 23-16-59-12-71
WHS: Kendall Wormack 19, Russell Jones Jr – 18, Tyrell Huff – 16, Bre’on Lewis – 9,Ta’Jay Dunlap – 7, Fred Savage – 6,Santana Turner – 3, Christian Horn – 3, Patrick Farmer – 2.
HS: Josh Lipsitz – 26, Cleo Canty – 13, Jordan Burch – 12, Trent Green – 11, Tucker Toman – 9.