When you know you are going against the best team in the area and have a shot at ruining a perfect season, you give it all you can to avenge some of the frustrating losses experienced throughout the season.
With a 23-0 record, Westmont-Hilltop looked to finish their season undefeated for the first time in school history. They had all the right components to a perfect season as they knocked off every challenge they had up until the very last game. There was only one team in their way, Tyrone.
The Eagles battled it out last season against the Hilltoppers, but came up short. The Eagles (8-12) looked to finish the season with a couple of big victories over Westmont and Central going into the playoffs. This was going to be the toughest pill to swallow.
It was senior night for Westmont, so the crowd was on top of their game as well. Tyrone was in a world of trouble and needed to pull out all of their tricks to overcome this juggernaut.
The first quarter was promising for Tyrone, going on top 9-5 midway through the first quarter. Steve Catich looked as though he would tear apart their defense, scoring five of their first nine points, but Joey Balog had another story to tell.
The senior has almost every record for Westmont written in his name and scored at will for the most part this season. He opened up Tyrone\’s 3-2 defensive set, pouring on 12 points and sparked a 16-0 run to finish off the first quarter. The Eagles trailed 21-9, despite leading 9-5 halfway through the first quarter.
Balog wasn\’t finished there, scoring nine more, all treys in the second quarter, giving him 21 for the first half and leading the Hilltoppers on a tear over Tyrone. Westmont outscored Tyrone 17-8 in the second quarter, giving them a comfortable lead at halftime, 38-17.
Tyrone struggled to set up an offense as Westmont showed their talent on the defensive end as well, forcing nine first half turnovers against the Eagles. Holding Catich to just nine points was another victory for the Hilltoppers as they completely shut down Tyrone\’s premier player.
The second half story didn\’t change at all. Catich began to show some life, scoring 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, but when Westmont was answering every shot, it was hard to spark any type of comeback. It was Zack Trotz leading the way for Westmont in the third, scoring nine of their 14 points, and extending their lead to 52-30 going into the final frame.
With 25 points for Balog and 19 from Catich after three-quarters of play, the two stars basically were taken out of the game midway through the fourth as Tyrone fell behind 60-32 and threw in the towel.
Westmont became the first unbeaten team in their school history behind 25 points from Balog and 13 from Trotz in their 66-39 victory over Tyrone.
Despite the loss, Catich scored 19 points, leaving him 17 shy of 400 points on the season. The Eagles fell to 8-13 on the year going into the Valentine\’s Day showdown with Central at home, Wednesday night. Wednesday\’s game will not change the seeding for the playoffs, but a victory may spark a fire in this Golden Eagle club.
Westmont 66 Tyrone 39
Westmont – Stephenson 2 0-0 5, Watson 1 0-0 2, Balog 10 4-5 29, Trotz 3 7-7 13, DeMarco 0 1-2 1, Young 1 3-4 5, Khuri 0 1-2 1, Ballow 1 0-0 2, Hahn 1 0-0 2, Adams 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 16-20 66
Tyrone – Morrow 1 0-0 2, Franco 0 1-2 1, Brooks 1 0-2 2, Catich 8 2-2 19, Gehret 2 0-0 4, Branstetter 0 2-2 2, Updyke 2 1-1 5, Dane 1 0-0 2, Shaffer 0 2-2 2. Totals 15 8-11 39
Tyrone 9 8 13 9 – 39
Westmont 21 17 14 14 – 66
Three-point goals: Tyrone-1 (Catich) Westmont-6 (Balog-5, Stephenson)
Shaffer Beats the Buzzer in Win over Westmont
With time running down, the Eagles found themselves in a sticky situation. They trailed by four points with less than four minutes to go in the game, but managed to take a two-point lead with 1:30 to go in the game. However, Westmont tied the game up at 56 apiece when Tyrone called a timeout to set up a last second shot.
As time ran down, Travis Peterman took a shot with 0:05 on the clock, rimmed out, and Johnny Shaffer tipped in a miraculous shot with no time left. The Eagles won in a thriller, 58-56 behind 23 points from Shaffer. Peterman also knocked down four treys and 14 points for Tyrone.
Tyrone 58 Westmont 56
Westmont – Vliet 4 0-0 8, Hahn 6 4-5 19, Swick 2 1-2 5, Valcheff 2 0-0 4, Vigma 2 0-0 4, Kessler 1 2-2 4, Weeks 0 2-2 2, Ziance 4 1-2 12. Totals 21 10-13 56
Tyrone – Ingle 1 3-5 6, Peterman 5 0-0 14, Updyke 5 1-2 11, Hampton 1 0-0 2, Black 1 0-0 2, Shaffer 8 7-7 23. Totals 21 11-14 58
Tyrone 15 17 8 18 – 58
Westmont 15 12 14 15 – 56
Three-point goals: Westmont-6 (Hahn-3, Ziance-3)
Tyrone-5 (Peterman-4, Ingle)
