Defensive play leads West past Valley, 39-35

Key Highlights

• We tried to rotate and keep guys fresh early on in the game.
• I think that the layoff definitely affected our shooting, but our defense really came up big and we played really well tonight."Once again, West senior Will Kegley proved to be the driving force offensively for the Senators with his play. McClanahan's group ultimately took a 13-7 first quarter advantage and held a 24-15 lead at the halftime break, with Kegley thriving in all areas of the game as the senior scored eight first quarter points and had 15 by the end of the first half. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementKegley ultimately finished with a game-high 23 points, connecting on nine attempts from the field while going an efficient 5-of-7 from the free throw line. While the senior's typical effort was huge, so too was West's defensive work.
• The Senators held a highly proficient Valley offense to seven field goals in the opening half, including one three-pointer.
• The Indians only had one conversion from beyond the arc through the opening three quarters of play as West ultimately built its 24-15 halftime advantage to as large as 31-17 through a 7-2 spurt to open the second half of competition."We were able to turn them over early, got a lot of deflections, a lot of steals, got out in transition early and was playing our game," McClanahan said.
• "Our defense was giving them fits.