Westlake rallies in second half to down Schertz Clemens, advance to regional quarterfinals

BUDA — Adjustments may be necessary in basketball, but sometimes, the best thing is to stick to the game plan.

Or in the case of the Westlake Chaparrals, getting back to reemphasize what you wanted to do coming in.

The Chaps shook off a slow start to down Schertz Clemens 42-37 in a Class 6A area-round game on Friday at Hays High School. The Chaps advanced to play Stony Point in the regional quarterfinals.

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“We were getting killed on offensive rebounding, in the post and nothing was really going right for us in the first half,” Chaps senior point guard Gavin Paull said. “The second half, we calmed down and we were able to get back to what we do.”

Paull scored a game-high 15 points as Westlake outscored the Buffs 22-7 after halftime.

Westlake (28-7) held Clemens (26-10) to just 13% shooting (2 of 15) and built a 13-5 rebounding advantage in the second half.

“We knew that we needed to grind through stops; that was the most important thing,” senior center Wonder Kahozi said. “Offensively, just getting organized and making sure who we wanted to attack.”

Westlake trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but chipped away on that Clemens advantage in the third quarter.

Chaps senior Max Purushothaman’s bucket in the paint got the Chaps to within a point at 36-35 midway through the third quarter. Paull gave Westlake it’s first lead of the game with a floater that made it 37-36 Westlake with 2 minutes, 32 seconds left.

“It’s really a unique feeling because you’re able to get the bench into it, you have the bench cheering you on and you have all of your fans cheering you on, so it makes it easier to get that next bucket or that next block or rebound when it feels like you have the whole stadium behind you,” Paull said about the momentum swing.

Westlake would not trail after that as Kahozi and Paull combined combined to hit 5-of-8 attempts from the charity stripe to close out the Clemens rally attempt.

The Buffs did not get a quality shot on their final three offensive possessions as Kahozi had two of the three Chaps blocks in the final minutes of the game and Clemens’ last shot attempt was a contested 3-pointer that was air-balled.

“As the game goes on, our defense gets better and better and that’s something we pride ourselves on,” Kahozi said. “It helps us win games.”

The Buffs attacked the paint consistently against Westlake and came out sharp jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game and forcing the Chaps to take an early timeout. Clemens out-rebounded Westlake 10-4 and had an 18-8 edge in points in the paint.

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The Chaps were able to find a flow in the second quarter as junior guard Hunter Davis nailed the first Westlake 3-pointer of the night and the Chaps made their way to the free throw line six times in the frame.

Paul hit a free throw to complete a 3-point play to cut the Clemens lead to four, but the Buffs rallied to close the quarter strong as Travon Williams countered with a 3-point play of his own seconds later.

“We knew that in that first half we didn’t come out with any intensity and we needed to tighten up if we wanted to win the game,” Kahozi said.

“We were down 10 at the half, but at halftime, we were talking about just sticking to our game plan and doing everything we needed to do,” Paull added.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Westlake rallies to advance to Class 6A regional quarterfinals