So long, win streak: Johnson boys smash Westlake's 85-game district run in strong fashion

As the final seconds ticked off the clock Friday night, Johnson's Sam McKinney took two steps along the baseline and flushed a powerful dunk to send the Jaguars' home crowd into a frenzy.

It was the exclamation point on a deafening statement performance by Johnson, which hammered Westlake 70-42 at Johnson High School to end the Chaps’ 85-game winning streak in district play in a result that will reverberate across the state.

Simply put: If you weren’t aware of Johnson, you are now.

“Our guys feel like they belong on the biggest stage in this area, and they came out and wanted to prove it tonight,” said Johnson coach Ben Kinnison, whose squad is now in sole possession of first place in District 26-6A with a 6-0 record. “We shot the ball really well, and they didn’t shoot the ball as well as they normally do, but our kids really battled.

"Westlake is an unbelievable team. (Chaps coach Robert Lucero) and his staff do as good a job as anyone I’ve ever seen. We just played really, really well tonight, and it took every bit of it.”

In a battle between two of the top four teams in the American-Statesman’s Class 6A area poll, the dominating way in which Johnson won the game was more surprising than the fact that it produced the upset. The Jaguars (20-2) controlled the contest from nearly the start, building a 35-15 halftime lead and never allowing the Chaps, who are No. 6 in the state, to get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

“Getting off to a good start defensively and not letting them run their stuff was the big thing,” Kinnison said. “Our guys did a great job with the defensive game plan, and offensively we were patient.”

Westlake (22-3, 6-1), which relies heavily on 3-pointers, struggled shooting the entire night. The Chaps hit no shots from behind the arc in the first half and shot less than 30% from the field.

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While his team’s offensive struggles were glaring, Lucero pointed to the defensive end as the biggest difference in the game.

“You don’t want to make any snap judgements off the emotion of the game as you don’t want to point to anything until you see the film, but I think from the start we were a step slow with everything defensively,” Lucero said. “People will say, ‘Oh, you just missed shots,’ but if we want to beat a good team, we can’t dig ourselves a giant hole. And a lot of that started with our defense.

"You have to give Johnson credit — they’re a good team that spaced the floor well and has a lot of talent.”

With Johnson holding an early 9-7 lead, Jaxon Vandegarde hit back-to-back 3-pointers that kick-started a 26-8 Jaguars run the rest of the half. Five different Johnson players scored in the second quarter as Westlake went ice-cold, making only two shots and going scoreless for nearly five minutes.

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Donovan Lee hit three 3-pointers in a stretch late in the third quarter and early in the fourth that brought Westlake to within 49-34, but the Jaguars would adequately handle the Chaps’ pressing and trapping from that point on as Jordan Harding scored all 10 of his points down the stretch.

McKinney’s 18 points paced all scorers, while Quinton Hairston tallied 13 and Vandegarde finished with 12 to put four Johnson players in double figures.

“We just wanted to send a message,” Vandegarde said. “We’re kind of unheard of, and we want everyone to know that we’re here to win.”

In their first year in Class 6A and only their third year in varsity athletics, the Jaguars are certainly breaking onto the scene in style.

“Coming up to Class 6A this year, a lot of people have said some things,” McKinney said. “But the best thing to do is just keep your head down and do what you know you can do and prove everybody wrong — and that’s what we did.”

Almost six years have passed since Westlake’s last district loss Jan. 18, 2017, a 74-57 defeat to Leander. With one of the most impressive streaks in Central Texas now over, Lucero said he appreciates what the program has done over the past seven seasons, but he’s mainly focused on this edition of the Chaps.

“For us, we try not to get caught up in numbers as what’s most important is this team and the next game,” he said. “Some of those teams that came before faced some adversity with predistrict losses that help you grow, and this team — I don’t think we’ve really faced a lot of adversity as a group.

"What this team has done so far is a huge credit to this group, but what they’re going to learn now is that winning is hard. Our district is tough, with good coaches and good players. Winning is tough, and we don’t have the leeway to not do it right all the time.”

Johnson, meanwhile, won’t have much time to relish its momentous win, as Lake Travis — which is 5-1 in district play and has won eight of its last nine games — visits Tuesday for another big District 26-6A contest.

“Now we have to do it again,” Kinnison said with a bit of a laugh, acknowledging the brutality of the schedule. “I’ll try to enjoy this tonight, and I’ll think about Lake Travis in the morning.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Westlake's 85-game district streak comes to a thud in loss to Johnson