Westwood honored their basketball and cheerleading seniors at Friday night’s game against Ridge View. | Leroy Howard
BLYTHEWOOD – Westwood headed into their final regular-season home game with only one blemish on their record: a 64-79 loss to Ridge View earlier in the season. Ready to avenge their loss, the Redhawks came to battle. The Blazers jumped out to an early first quarter 19-13 lead and held onto it until the fourth quarter.
Russell Jones Jr. (2) closed out his regular-season career with a tight win over region rival Ridge View. | Leroy Howard
The Redhawks fourth quarter defense, led by Christian Horn and Ahmon Green, locked down Ridge View in the fourth. Westwood blazed a comeback, outscoring Ridge View 21-10 in the final period for a 58-57 win over the Blazers.
Horn came up with a late steal with Redhawks trailing by win, and passed the ball off to Russell Jones Jr. Jones sank the shot and put Westwood up one with just six seconds left. Green drew a charge on the next Ridge View possession and locked up the 60-57 win.
Jones had a game high 30 points. Ta’jay Dunlap had nine and Bre’on Lewis had seven. Cincere Scott led the way for the Blazers with 13.
The one-point win gave the Redhawks a share of the Region title with Ridge View for the second season in a row.
The Redhawks enters the 4A State Playoffs a No. 2 seed. They hosted Lakewood High School Wednesday night in the first round of the playoffs. Their dominating 77-56 win advances them to the second round on Saturday at Greenville High School at 7 p.m.