Westside wins HISD Tournament title

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Our very own Westside Wolves Varsity basketball team wins the 78th Houston ISD Tournament by going head to head with Madison and Lamar. The Wolves played both games extremely well and had a 80-68 semifinal victory against the Marlins with a 93-66 triumph over the Texans for the championship. Wolves Led by 34 points and eight three-pointers from Neil VanBeck and a 37-point second quarter.

Abdul Alatishe (12th)

Tournament MVP Abdul Alatishe followed his 24 points in the semifinal with 21 against Lamar. His dunk off an assist from Neil VanBeck put Westside ahead with the score of 23-15 in the second quarter. VanBeck later pushes the lead to 34-20. Lamar tried to catch up, but the Wolves were able to sprint to a 16-0 run and a 52-25 advantage. Point guard Anthony Peterson-Lockett, who scored 21 against Madison, had the hot hand during the run with three field goals. A fast-break basket by Ademola Kolawole and a three-pointer by Sam VanBeck led the Wolves to finish the run. Westside led 56-29 at halftime, the last points of the second quarter coming on an alley-oop from Kolawole to Alatishe. The Wolves led by as much as 37 in the third quarter. A three by Erik Evans and consecutive dunks by Chimaobi Ezekwesili finalized the tournament championship.

The wolves are now 21-5, 5-2 in district. They are now practicing for the rest of district play and playoffs. “I’m really pleased with the way we started the season. Going into Christmas break we had an 18-3 record, giving us the best start in school history. This is definitely the best team I’ve been a part of at Westside so I’m really excited to see how we finish district play and how far we can go in playoffs,” Coach Deon Williams stated. As of now, Abdul Alatishe is the leading scorer averaging 22 ppg and 12 rpg. Neil VanBeck is the second leading scorer with 18 ppg.

Neil VanBeck (12th)

It looks like this will be a great season for the varsity team!