Eula Pirates coast to 57-41 win over Westbrook Wildcats in bi-district round
MERKEL – Eula maintained a steady lead over Westbrook for the entirety of Monday’s bi-district game, earning a 57-41 win.
The Pirates led 14-9 at the end of the first quarter before they got their big push. Eula outscored Westbrook 15-5 in the second quarter, leading 29-14 at halftime.
This put the Wildcats in a hole they were unable to escape from.
“It’s important to get off to a good start against a team like that,” Eula coach Shae Sanford said. “It was good to get some shots early to get us going.”
Westbrook’s zone defense is usually a centerpiece for the Wildcats, but coach Dean Edwards wished his team executed it better on Monday. Eula had several open looks from three, many of which the Pirates capitalized on.
“When we don’t close out well or have good rotations against a good team like that, you’re in trouble,” Edwards said. “We knew they were a great shooting team; we just hoped that we could contain them a little bit.”
With six 3-pointers, Eula’s Joseph Click had a game-high 18 points. Jimmy Roberts led Westbrook with 10.
Eula (20-7 overall, 9-1) will face the winner of Tuesday’s bi-district game between Roby and Benjamin in the area round. Before that, Sanford said he wants his team to improve its help-side defense from what he saw on Monday.
Still, the coach was proud of his team’s effort in earning a comfortable playoff win.
“You take wins anyway you can get them,” Sanford said. “It’s always good to get a playoff win. Hopefully we got some of the jitters out and we’ll be better in the second round."
Westbrook ended the season 6-9, 5-5. After many athletes from the school opted not to play basketball, Edwards is proud of the players that showed up and helped lead the Wildcats to the postseason.
“I am so appreciative of the guys that did stick around,” Edwards said. “They give me everything they have every night, and it was a lot of fun to coach these guys.”
REGION II-1A BI-DISTRICT PLAYOFF
Eula 57, Westbrook 41
Eula … 14 … 15 … 10 … 18 — 57
Westbrook … 9 … 5 … 12 … 15 — 41
Eula (20-7) – Joseph Click 6 0-0 18, Clayton Gray 5 5-7 17, Carson Sharp 2 0-0 6, Cayden Franklin 2 0-0 5, Avery Orozco 2 1-3 5, Seth Sanford 2 0-0 4, Caysen Smith 1 0-0 2.
Westbrook (6-9) – Jimmy Roberts 4 2-5 10, Kaden Potter 3 1-2 8, Bo Payne 0 7-8 7, Xavier Dominguez 3 0-1 6, Jeremiah Ramirez 2 0-0 4, Parker Matlock 1 1-2 3, Hadley White 1 0-0 2, Brannon Larson 0 1-2 1.
Carson Field is the area sports reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News. He covers primarily Big Country high school sports. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to reporternews.com.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Eula Pirates coast to 57-41 win over Westbrook Wildcats in bi-district
