BLYTHEWOOD – Arden Conyers did have his struggles on the perimeter Tuesday night.
The South Carolina basketball signee and Westwood forward went 0-for-7 from behind the 3-pont arc, but that hardly mattered for the Redhawks in their 83-57 win over Chapin.
“I came out a little cold. I couldn’t hit nothing, but I still wanted to get the win,” Conyers said.
While blanking out on 3s, Conyers was a force on the inside, scoring a game-high 23 points. And while Conyers was busy on the inside, T.J. Bell, T.K. Roberts, Nate Thompson, K.J. Rowan, and Mike Balkman made good on seven 3-pointers.
“We’re brothers, and we preach a lot in practice about our defense, and that really helped us tonight,” Conyers said. “That really helped us tonight. We tried to force the ball out of certain people’s hands and it worked.”
Westwood (5-3) put up a solid defensive front against the Eagles. The Redhawks grabbed 28 rebounds and made 12 steals, getting transition points consistently throughout the game.
Chapin (3-6) got 21 points from Cayman Collins and 11 from Tyson Ray, but the Eagles fell behind early and couldn’t catch up to the Redhawks, who scored 20 points in the first and second quarters to take a 40-23 lead at the half. A 24-15 third quarter gave Westwood a 64-38 lead going into the fourth.
All in all, Tuesday’s effort hardly resembled that from a team just 18 hours removed from a tough loss at Oak Hill Academy in lower western Virginia. Former Ridge View head coach Yerrick Stoneman’s squad topped the Redhawks 77-55 Monday night. Immediately afterward, Westwood got on the bus and drove more than three hours back to the school.
“That was the challenge to our guys,” head coach John Combs said. “I didn’t want there to be a letdown just because we played a game last night that was two states away against a high-level competition. I give our guys credit, we challenged them to come out with fire and play with great energy and enthusiasm, and they did.”
As the Redhawks get ready to take on crosstown rival Blythewood (4-2), they’ll look to build on Tuesday night’s success.
“We’re a work in progress,” Combs said about the team. “We’ve had injury issues, we’ve battled with injuries all year long, so we’re still trying to figure out who we are, but when we’re able to convert points in our transition, that’s a good thing for us.”
The high point total itself stands out over previous games, and previous seasons.
“We normally average somewhere in the 50s, so to score 83, that’s pretty high for us,” Combs said.
In the girls game, it didn’t matter much which Westwood combination was on the floor. Chapin’s girls were no match for the Redhawks (8-2), who grounded the Eagles 69-11.
All but four players on the Redhawks’ roster scored, and all but three players scored or had a rebound.
“We just wanted to get some players who haven’t played a whole lot some game experience and get their confidence up a little bit,” Redhawks head coach Gregory Bauldrick said. “And then we wanted to work on executing some small things where our timing has been off.”
Jessica Woods drained four 3-pointers and finished the night with 18 points. Korletta Daniels had 14 points, five steals and four rebounds. Raven Johnson scored 13 points.
Westwood led Chapin (5-3) 33-5 at halftime and 53-8 after three quarters.
Westwood plays host to Blythewood tonight. Bauldrick said he realizes the 6-2 Bengals, who are riding a 5-game winning streak, are a little different from previous years, when a single victory on the schedule was scarce.
“They are a nice young team that’s making some noise,” he said. “We know it’ll be a different story Thursday, but we like where we are.”
Boys
Chapin – 12-11-15-19 — 57
Westwood – 20-20-24-19 — 83
Chapin-Cayman Collins 21, Tyson Ray 11, Raines 9, Melvin 5, Minter 3, Prophet 2, Williams 2, Wallace 2, Peterson 2.
Westwood– Arden Conyers 23, T.J. Bell 12, K.J. Rowan 10. Balkman 7, Thompson 6, Roberts 6, Hobbs 6, Hannah 4, Mack 4, Walters 2, Z. Brown 2, L. Brown 1.
Girls
Chapin – 2-3-3-3 — 11
Westwood – 11-22-20-15 — 69
Chapin – Cornelison 4, Timmons 3, Stephenson 2, Wright 1, Jones 1.
Westwood – Jessica Woods 18, Korletta Daniels 14, Raven Johnson 13, Branch 8, Thompson 5, Davis 5, Omeire 3, Entzminger 3.