WVCS varsity team honors three seniors; JV plays North Collins in triple overtime

On Feb. 17, the West Valley varsity boys basketball team played against the Panama Panthers at home in the team’s final game of the regular season. Although the Wildcats lost the match 76-37, Head Coach Jason Kearney said that he was proud of his boys’ efforts in the game, especially those of the team’s three seniors, Dan Spalti, Garret Bailey and Mike Pfeffer.

Regarding the three players who were honored that evening, Kearney said, “They were true leaders through the whole season and it especially showed that night.”

In the game against the Panthers, the Wildcats trailed their opponents by 8 points with a score of 37-25 as they entered halftime. Kearney said, “I wish we could have played the whole game like we played the first half, but nonetheless, it was a good game to build off before the playoffs.”

That evening, Bailey led the team with 12 points and 6 rebounds, followed by Spalti, who had 6 points and 4 rebounds and Colton Myers, who had 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Dylan Westfall and Brandon Rockwood each grabbed 7 rebounds and Pfeffer scored 2 points.

The varsity team played against Brocton on Feb. 14, losing to their opponents. Kearney said, “We came out flat and played that way the entire game. We could not get anything going offensively or defensively.” Westfall led his teammates with 7 points and 5 rebounds and was followed by Rockwood, who went up for 7 rebounds for the team.

In the JV match against Brocton, the Wildcats lost 58-34. Coach Nick Casselman said that West Valley “started the game very slow, losing the first quarter 2 to 15. After the slow start, we struggled to completely battle back, but we went on little runs showing life of a comeback, but never were able to pull through.” Patrick Enser led the team with 10 points.

After losing to Brocton on Valentine’s Day, the JV team took on North Collins on Feb. 18. That match went into triple overtime until North Collins sealed the victory with a 4-point 56-52 lead.

Casselman said, “The kids clearly did not want their season to be over after the typical four quarters, so it took three overtimes to decide a winner.” He said that, at one point in the match, “with 6 seconds remaining in the second overtime, Patrick Enser was able to come down the court and sink a shot from almost half court to send us into the third and final overtime.” Casselman remarked that, due to the competitive nature of the match, the lead never “exceeded 7 points for either team throughout the entire game.” The coach said that his players’ weakness throughout the game was their failure to contain the Keough twins from North Collins, who “combined for almost half of their team points.”

Enser finished the night with 24 points and 15 rebounds. He was followed by Jared Ras and Collin Proctor, as Ras concluded the evening with 13 points and Proctor finished with 12. The loss to North Collins ended the team’s season with a 7-11 record. Enser was the team’s leading scorer, with an average of 11 points and 7 rebounds per game, and Ras was the team’s second leading scorer, with his average of 6 points per game.