Boys Basketball: Young bounces back by topping Westinghouse

Updated: December 19, 2011 9:07PM

After struggling to score just 29 points in its previous game, No. 25 Young bounced back behind the efforts of three sophomores to capture a 62-45 Red-West victory over host Westinghouse.

The sophomore trio of Jahlil Okafor, Paul White and Miles Reynolds made sure the Dolphins (3-1, 1-1) surpassed its previous point total – by halftime. The trio made up for the loss of injured players Thomas Hamilton (meniscus), Jordan Smith (ankle) and Jermaine Morgan (ankle).

“They have a huge team and they really exploited us with their height early on,” Westinghouse coach Garland Williams said. “I’m amazed at the skills that [White] had. I didn’t expect someone that big to be that good of a ball handler.”

White and Okafor played catch and toss early on to lead Young out to a 17-7 halftime lead. Playing the point-forward position, White used his 6-9 height advantage to pass the ball into the 6-11 Okafor in the post. Okafor scored nine first-quarter points as the much smaller Westinghouse (7-4, 0-2) team had a difficult time denying him the ball. White had three of his eight assists in the quarter.

“We didn’t prepare for the way they were able to get the ball into the post like they did,” Williams said. “Once we adjusted, we did our best to eliminate those passes in the post.”

Westinghouse kept trying to make runs behind Ricky Battles and Dewan White. White scored seven third quarter points to cut the lead to 45-34 as it looked like the Warriors might gain some momentum after a 9-0 run. Battles scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half in his first game back from an ankle injury that kept him out for two weeks.

“I’m glad to have Ricky back,” Williams said. “He’s a terrific workhorse and a good ball player.”

Reynolds stopped Westinghouse in its tracks with a steal and three point play to end the third quarter. Reynolds scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half and came away with four steals to squelch any hope of a Westinghouse comeback.

Oakafor finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Paul White tallied 10 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

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