Westside gets first win, defeats rival Howard 61-56

The Westside Seminoles snagged their first win of the season Monday night, defeating the Howard Huskies 61-56 at home in a back-and-forth affair that ended with a clutch three-point shot and steal to give the Seminoles the edge.

After a second half that featured four lead changes and two ties — each team led by at least eight points at least once during the game — Westside had the ball with about a minute left and a 56-54 lead. Freshman Quincey Sallette stepped up for the Seminoles after a long possession, draining a huge three-pointer with about 30 seconds left to extend the lead.

Westside star Jalen Whitley then swiped the ball back at halfcourt on Howard’s ensuing possession and took it the distance for the layup, completing an explosive sequence that gave the Seminoles an insurmountable lead in only about 15 seconds.

“One thing about Quincey, he’s not scared to take the shot,” Westside head coach Josh Grube said of his freshman’s clutch trey. “We open the gym up every Sunday, and he’s in here every day. You want those kind of guys who will work and step up and shoot it.”

The Seminoles are now 1-2 after opening with losses to higher classification schools Northside and Warner Robins. They struggled in the second half of those two games, something Westside improved on against Howard.

“We’ve struggled in the second half in our first two games … I really challenged ‘em at halftime. The third quarter was not so good to us, but the fourth quarter was better,” Grube said. “We’re down two seniors right now, so we have two freshmen having to play a lot more minutes. We just needed a win, so it was good to get it.”

Whitley led the Seminoles with 16 points, but it was a group effort. Jayden Marshall followed with 13, while Sallette chipped in with 11. Whitley had 19 in the loss to Northside but little support from the rest of his team.

“I think it was a relief this game, because Howard didn’t jump and trap us. They didn’t trap Jalen a bunch like Northside and Warner Robins did,” Grube said. “Some of the guys are not ready for that style of play … Howard did it a lot less.”

It was a crucial early game for Howard as well. Much like Westside, head coach Jay Lunce and the Huskies are trying to find the right chemistry before region play heats up around the corner.

“We just got to get to the point of these guards (not) turning the ball over. They need to be able to step up with this pressure. It’s a process right now, these guys aren’t completely used to playing with each other yet,” Lunce said. “It’s still early. We showed a lot of promise. These guys fight and play hard, we just gotta eliminate our mistakes.”

Aiden Jefferson led the Huskies with 16 points, followed by Andre Christian with 11. Jefferson got many of his points on putbacks after hustling for offensive boards, always appearing in the right place at the right time.

“Aiden’s a scrapper, he’s a good scorer and an athletic guy for us. A great kid,” Lunce said. “He just needs a little more experience and needs to step up and fully take that leadership role for us. No one’s doing that for us right now. … We just have to find the right combination. That makes a big difference. I’ve got to do a better job managing my timeouts as well.”

Howard dropped to 1-4 with the loss, which rounds out a tough first portion of the schedule for the Huskies that included Houston County and Southwest.

It was evident that both teams needed to gel a bit more as the game began. Though neither team was very sharp offensively in the opening period, the Seminoles had the better shooting early as Howard struggled to convert good passes or turnovers into points.

The Huskies finally broke through in the final minute of the period, though, getting a nice layup from Jefferson before a slam dunk from Christian off a smooth steal got the away crowd on its feet. By the time the quarter ended, Howard had bounced back to make it a 15-13 game.

The second period was almost a mirror image of the first, with Westside pulling away again until a torrent of shots right before the half pulled the Huskies closer. Jaylen Wallace hit a key three-pointer just prior to intermission to cut Westside’s lead to 26-25 at the break.

Both teams found their stride a bit more in the second half. Howard put together an impressive 22-point quarter in the third to flip the script on the Seminoles, eventually going up 51-43 in the fourth quarter for their largest lead of the night.

The Seminoles then did exactly what the Huskies had in the first half — they got an offensive burst at just the right time. Westside closed that six-point gap with a smooth, 6-point scoring run of about two minutes which set the stage for the finale with Sallette and Whitley’s clutch plays.

“I thought Trent Pearson, a sophomore for us, came in and really gave us a spark in that second half. Justin Releford is slowly coming on, he’s come over from Central. We have so many new pieces, it’s just taking a little time,” Grube said. “We’re gonna be alright.”

Westside plays Veterans on the road Dec. 9 for its next game, while Howard is set to travel to Augusta twice this week for games against Hephzibah and Aquinas to begin region play.