Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

It wasn't the final result they were looking for, but there were plenty of positives for the Western Boone boys basketball team on Friday night when they host Cascade in Monon Athletic Conference action. The two teams traded blows back and forth, but Cascade ultimately made more plays in overtime in a 70-64 win over the host Stars. "Cascade is a really good team, and I thought we played a good basketball game for 28 minutes," Western Boone head coach Jason Smith said. "The problem is games are 32 minutes and tonight it was 36. But there were a lot of positives to take from the game, and its just some minor things to fix that we will continue to work on." WeBo, playing in front a Winter Homecoming crowd, came out firing in the first quarter, hitting five 3-pointers - from four different players - to build an early advantage. But the Cadets rallied late in the quarter to lead 21-19, then pushed the lead to seven heading into the locker room. Coming out of halftime, the Stars made the adjustments they needed to, out-scoring the Cadets 21-9 and led by five heading to the final quarter. "The main focus was being more physical with our cutters," Smith said. "Cascade moves really, really well off the ball and we wanted to emphasize slowing down those cuts. We did a way better job of that, and then on the other end scored on seven-straight possessions, which was good to see." The Stars couldn't sustain the momentum however. Quinn Westerfeld scored on the opening possession of the fourth quarter to push the WeBo lead to 53-46, but the Cadets countered with a 12-0 run to take a 58-53 lead with 4:00 to go. Western Boone chipped away, and after getting a 3-pointer from Luke LaGrange with 1:48 to go, tied the game 45 seconds later on a basket from Beau Sawyer. Cascade held the ball for the final minute but missed a shot in the final seconds. Overtime wasn't kind to the Stars. They managed just a free throw from Westerfeld with 3:15 to go and weren't able to get on the board the rest of the OT. "I felt like we got a little tired," Smith said. "It was a good, physical game and it was fun to be a part of. But with that comes a lot of tired legs at the end, and we were settling more on the perimeter." Westerfeld had 19 points and Sawyer had 11 for the Stars. Tristyn Faulk had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. "It was his best game of the year," Smith said. "He finished really well around the basket and we are trying to get him to do that more. He had an incredible game. And when the defense started collapsing on him, he was able to kick it out to the open guy. There aren't a lot of high school players who can get 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and that was good to see from him." Western Boone is back in action on Tuesday against Tri-West. Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.